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THE HALO. 



The Halo: 



AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF D. C. DENSMORE. 



"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy? 

Shaksfbarb. 



Vol. I. 








BOSTON: 

VOICE OF ANGELS PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

5 Dwight Street. 

1876. 



*> 



&$*»& 



COPYRIGHT. 

D. C. DENSMORE. 
1876. 



Stereotyped and printed by 

Rcuid, Avery, and Company, 

iij Franklin Street, 

Boston. 



PKEFACE. 



This volume is intended to be a truthful autobiography 
of the author, so far as pertains to experiences and thrilling 
adventures which are believed to be more exceptional than 
representative. It is designed to illustrate Spiritual phi- 
losophy ; or, in other words, to demonstrate the fact that 
our friends in spirit-life attend and act upon us while we 
inhabit material bodies ; and that the}' frequently influ- 
ence us for good, watch over us in the ups and downs 
of life here, are cognizant of our ever}* thought, cheer us 
when desponding, and give us hopeful words of encour- 
agement when misfortune assails us. Also when we are 
ready to sink amid conflicting emotions and trials, not 
knowing which way to look for succor, they come to our 
rescue, and assist us with cheering words, bid us look up, 
and infuse fresh courage, fresh aspirations, and renewed 
vigor to battle valiantly with all the severe vicissitudes 
and disappointments of life ; and, if they cannot give us 
all that we may desire, they give at least assurances of 
their loving presence and sweet sympathy. 

To the struggling, discouraged men and women of the 
world, to those bent down with sickness and cares, this 
volume is respectfully dedicated ; and if the perusal of 
its pages shall gladden the heart of some wayfarer, in his 
gloomj' pilgrimage through the world, with fresh hopes, 



6 PKEFACE. 

one great object of the author will be fulfilled. It is not 
expected that the volume will meet the tastes of all 
classes ; for I do not possess nor claim any literary quali- 
fications for the work here undertaken. My object is 
mainly to help some who stand in need of Spiritual 
truths, and encourage them amid the arduous duties of 
life. Every step of the author over the rugged hills of 
this world has been guided and aided by his spirit- 
friends. 

It is customary, I believe, when one is writing out his 
autobiography, to relate most of the incidents and acci- 
dents pertaining to his course from birth on to and through 
manhood ; but, as this history is intended chiefly to set 
forth a series of scenes made interesting by their in- 
timate relation to the Spiritual philosophy, I shall, in the 
main, adduce only such prominent ones as in some point 
obviously connect with the higher life ; and show, in a 
marked manner, the care and guidance of my spirit- 
guardians, from my earliest recollections, on through 
many succeeding phases of a life full of thrilling events. 

The Author. 
5 Dwight Street, Boston, Feb. 25, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 



-♦- 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Childhood . .9 

CHAPTER II. 
Precocious Shipbuilding 19 

CHAPTER III. 
At School in Providence, and School-teaching . 41 

CHAPTER IV. 
First Voyage Whaling 58 

CHAPTER V. 
Second Voyage Whaling 87 

CHAPTER VI. 
Third Voyage Whaling Ill 

CHAPTER VII. 
Farming 127 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Purchasing the Ship " Massasoit," and getting 

ready for sea 134 

7 



8 CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER IX. 
Fourth Whaling Voyage, in Ship "Massasoit" . 151 

CHAPTER X 
Lumbering Business at Gardiner, Me. . . . 184 

CHAPTER XI. 

Learning the Ship-building Trade, and its Re- 
sults . . . ' . . 200 

CHAPTER XII. 

Incidents on a Voyage to the Gold-Mines of Cal- 
ifornia, and Return, 1849 221 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Ship-building at Rockland, Me. .... 256 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Healing the Sick by laying-on of Hands, and often 
without Contact with the Patient . . . 285 

CHAPTER XV. 

At Home on a Visit — Experiences in New York — 
Visit to Cincinnati — Gas Regulator, What 
became of it — Visit to St. Louis — Work in 
Shipyard — Driven out of Town by Advance 
of a Rebel Army- — Stay in Paducah, Ky. — 
Town occupied by Gen. Forrest — Flee to 
Metropolis City — Steamboat-building, etc. . 309 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Publishing a Spiritual Newspaper called the 
" Voice of Angels," edited and managed by 
Spirits — How and by whom it was first pro- 
jected, and why it was gotten up . 346 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF D. C. DENSIOEE. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHILDHOOD. 



I was born in the town of Bowdoinham, Me., 
on the banks of the Kennebec River, the 10th of 
April, 1813. While I was an infant, my father pur- 
chased a tract of wild land in what was then called 
the town of Harlem (but subsequently named 
China), where he erected a log-house, cleared off a 
few acres of land, and commenced getting a liveli- 
hood in our forest home. There was no other habi- 
tation for miles; and here, amid wild beasts and 
screeching owls, my dear mother, with health im- 
paired, was compelled to endure a toilsome existence 
for a few years. She being naturally of a very sen- 
sitive nature, her life was one of continual anxiety, 
from fear that she should be unable to procure the 
necessaries of life. Here we lived until I was two 
and a half years old, when father purchased another 
farm some little distance off, on which was a frame 
house partially finished. 

In this house I passed the earlier part of my life ; 
in fact, I made it my home until I had grown to 

9 



10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

manhood. Our family increased nearly every year 
by a new-comer, until the children numbered six- 
teen boys and girls. Among them were eleven boys ; 
making the family circle, in round numbers, eighteen 
human beings ; all the children from the same father 
and mother. It was a beautiful sight to see us all 
sitting at the table at one time. This I witnessed 
only during a few weeks ; for generally some of the 
children were away from home. Of course it re- 
quired tact, with industry and strict economy, to 
feed and clothe so many ; and consequently all who 
were able to had to contribute their quota to its 
maintenance. Here I passed a happy portion of my 
life ; yet although I had a harmonious, contented 
disposition, I was uneasy under the restraint I was 
constantly compelled to submit to in working on the 
farm, a kind of labor which I very much disliked ; 
my mind would be running upon the building of 
mills of various kinds. At one time, when father 
had gone away for a few weeks, instead of working 
on the farm faithfully, I got it into my head to build 
a miniature saw-mill; and, with the aid of some of 
. my younger brothers, managed to construct a dam 
across the brook, a stream running through our farm. 
After the dam was completed, I made a flume, with 
an apron for the wheel to run the machinery. After 
a good deal of difficulty for want of tools, I con- 
structed what millwrights call a " breast-wheel." I 
had got the lower part of the mill completed, and 
the wheel running, before father came home. As it 
was located in the " alder-bushes," I was so screened 
from observation that no one knew what was going 



CHILDHOOD. 11 

on, until I had the wheel set, or hung, in its place. 
Although it is over a half-century since the opera- 
tion, I remember how pleased I felt when for the 
first time I hoisted the gate, and let the water on. 
The wheel was four feet long, and about fourteen 
inches in diameter. I was so elated at my success, 
that farm and every thing pertaining to it was quite 
forgotten. 

After I had the lower part of my mill completed, 
and the wheel . running, I changed my mind about 
building a saw-mill, as there was so much machinery 
attached to it, and I had no suitable tools to work 
with. I concluded to make a turning-lathe instead, 
similar to one a neighbor had, with this difference : 
he worked his with the foot on a treadle, while mine 
was to be run by water-power. After overcoming 
incalculable difficulty, for the want of proper tools 
to construct my lathe, I got it completed. With the 
belt in its proper place, I hoisted the gate, and set it 
spinning ; how grand I felt at my success ! Now, to 
prove its efficiency, I must turn out something. Not 
having anj^ turning-tools, I went to the house, and 
got the butcher-knife, the end of which was quite 
round and very thick. I got a piece of green poplar- 
wood, such as spools are made of for winding yarn 
for weaving, and turned out one, which looked as 
perfect as those I had seen mother use. With this 
trophy of my success, I ran as fast as I could to 
show it to her. She said it was. a nice one, but there 
was one objection to it: it had no hole for the spindle, 
which deficiency I had quite overlooked. When I 
told her I did it myself, she thought I had been 



12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

down to Varney's, and turned it* in his lathe ; but 
when I told her I had built a lathe myself, and it 
run by water, she was quite astonished, and rather 
questioned the truthfulness of my assertion. To 
prove what I told her was true, I persuaded her to 
accompany me to my field of operations, which she 
did. After we got to the mill, I hoisted the gate, 
and turned out another spool. She seemed pleased 
with my ingenious turn of mind, but feared " father 
would not like it ; " but, when he found it out, he 
was not displeased with me, but rather encouraged 
me by suggesting some improvements. A long-con- 
tinued rain caused a freshet, before I had finished 
my works, and swept the unfinished mill, and every 
thing belonging to it, down the stream ; which so 
discouraged me that I never attempted to rebuild it. 
This little boyish operation has no particular impor- 
tance beyond showing what hard work and persever- 
ance under difficulties may accomplish. 

I used to work on the farm with the rest of the 
boys; and, when called to our meals, it was a com- 
mon saying with them, that I must put a stick down 
where I left off hoeing corn or potatoes, to know 
where to begin again. 

My mother, before and at the time of her marriage, 
belonged to the society of " Friends," or " Quakers." 
My father was a Methodist in good standing. The 
Quakers doft't allow any of their flock to marry other 
than their own denomination. As a matter of course, 
my parents could not marry according to the ordi- 
nances of the Friends, unless father renounced his 
Methodism, and allied himself with the Quakers. 



CHILDHOOD. 13 

This he did not or would not do at that time ; and, 
as they wanted to get married, they were joined in 
wedlock in accordance with father's religious belief. 
For this act of disobedience to her church, mother 
was hauled over the judicial coals, and was either 
compelled to say she was sorry for what she had 
done, and publicly condemn her act in the monthly 
meeting, or be "turned out" of the society. Whether 
she was ever really sorry, and condemned the practice, 
or not, I never heard her say. At all events, she chose 
to say so, and thus regained her standing as a good 
and exemplary Quaker, and kept it as long as she 
lived. When both parents belong to this church, the 
children are born members, thus obviating the trouble 
of joining it after they have gained their majority. 
Since mother, at the time of my birth, was under the 
ban of her Christian friends for "marrying out," as a 
matter of course, I was neither a born Quaker, nor a 
Methodist. However, when I was four years old, 
father determined to leave the Methodist persuasion, 
and join the Quakers. In'the mean time, mother had 
been "dealt with," as they call it. But, after due 
consideration by the Friends, after she had confessed 
repentance of thQ disobedient act, they took her in 
again. By some process, which I never compre- 
hended, they have a way by which minor children, 
when both parents belong to the society, no matter 
if neither belonged to it when the children were 
born, to take them into the church without their will 
or consent, and compel them to conform to all the 
requirements of the society ever after. When I was 
four years old, father became convinced that the 

2 



14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Quaker religion was the surest and shortest road to 
heaven ; and like any other sensible, thinking man, 
felt justified in taking the shortest cut and the safest 
boat to cross life's tempestuous seas in, and therefore 
renounced his- Methodism altogether, and joined the 
Quakers. After he had got firmly fixed in the 
church, they, the " meeting folks," went through 
some process by which we children were all taken 
in as good members of the " society." After this, as 
father and mother belonged to the society, all the 
children born afterwards belonged to the same before 
they ever saw the light of day. 

I have been subject, from my earliest remembrance, 
to strange prophetic dreams, or visions ; and one or 
two of the earlier ones I will relate, to show that I 
was subject then to unseen influences, which I now 
know were really and substantially my guardians, 
who have been controlling me in all my movements 
through life ; also some experiences of hearing voices 
telling me in distinct and clear words what to do to 
relieve me when in embarrassed circumstances ; but 
not until all hope of relief had forsaken me would 
such put in an appearance. These voices, or impres- 
sions, or whatever folks may choose to call them, have 
attended me from my earliest childhood ; and not until 
the advent of modern Spiritualism had become a fixed 
fact in my mind did I realize from whence they came. 
Before that, although I hadn't the slightest faith that 
there were unseen spirits, either good or bad, yet I 
paid the most profound respect to these strange inter- 
feres in my business affairs, and treated their advice 
with the courtesy and consideration that I would give 



CHILDHOOD. 15 

to the advice of a valued friend, in whose wisdom 
and ability to guide and direct I had the utmost 
confidence. 

The first distinctly remembered dream or vision 
of coming events, which I could not have otherwise 
known any thing about, occurred when I was about 
nine years old. I dreamed, that while the family 
were taking breakfast, I with the rest, a flat-iron 
fell from the mantle-piece, and broke the handle off. 
When it occurred, mother said, " How sorry I am ! 
what shall I do?" (being in straitened circum- 
stances, the repair or replacing of this was quite a 
draft upon the slender means), when father said, 
" Never mind, mother : I have a broken axe, and I 
will send David out to Bragg's, and get them both 
mended." (This Mr. Bragg was a blacksmith, 
living some three or four miles from us.) I did not 
know that the axe was broken, until I heard of it in 
my dream. I saw father put the iron in one end of 
a meal-bag, the axe in the other, put the bag across 
the saddle, adjust the stirrups to correspond with my 
short legs, and start me off. The axe was on the 
left, and the flat-iron on the right side, of the horse. 
This dream did not occur to me when I awoke. 
While partaking of our breakfast the next morning, 
Louis Bean, a domestic living in our family, in 
moving something on the mantle-piece, pushed off 
the flat-iron, which broke the handle. When mother 
saw the accident, she repeated the same words that 
I dreamed she did ; and father consoled her misfor- 
tune in precisely the same words I heard him use in 
my sleep; and he put the broken articles into a 



16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

meal-bag, the axe and iron on the" same sides of the 
horse that I saw in my dream. It was not till I 
heard father's consoling remarks to mother about 
sending me out to Bragg's to get them mended, that 
my dream came vividly to my mind. 

Sometimes in later life, as well as in boyhood, 
these dreams would relate to things that had previ- 
ously occurred, or were transpiring at the time I 
dreamed them, but under circumstances that pre- 
cluded the possibility of my knowing any thing 
about them in the usual way ; one of which I will 
relate : — 

In 1860, when in Birmingham, Eng., engaged in 
experimenting on some patents, and selling others, I 
arose one morning, dressed, preparing to go to the 
shop ; but, it being rather early, I thought I would 
lie down a few moments, not thinking of going to 
sleep ; but I did lose myself, although I don't think 
I was in a sound slumber. When I aroused from my 
lethargy, I remembered very distinctly of going 
home, and finding 'Helen, my oldest child, very sick. 
I thought I told my wife what to do for her, and 
then came out of my trance-like sleep. This was 
the sixth day of August ; and, the dream getting a 
strong hold of me, I could not resist an inclination 
to write. I did so, and described the disease, and 
told them what to do if she was no better when my 
letter arrived. On my way to the shop I mailed it. 
When I arrived at my place of business, I told Mr. 
Edwards, the proprietor of the building, my dream ; 
remarking, at the same time, that by due course of 
mail I should receive a letter corroborating in every 



CHILDHOOD. 17 

particular Helen's illness. He laughed at my cre- 
dulity, and left me. I had told Mr. Edwards, before 
. this, some of my experiences in relation to spiritual 
matters, more particularly to clairvoyance, &c, all 
of which he ignored as fanatical and positively 
absurd. I felt just as sure that I should have my 
dream corroborated, as that I had dreamed it. Time 
passed ; and, being very busily engaged in my busi- 
ness, I quite forgot my dream, till one morning Mr. 
Edwards came into the shop, swinging a letter over 
his head, saying, " Here's a letter all about Helen." 
My letters came to his care. His remarks put me in 
mind of my dream. I sat down at once, and read it, 
he watching me all the while to hear the dream cor- 
roborated. I read the third page, which wound up 
by saying, " We are all as well as usual ." There was 
not a word about Helen's sickness. I told Mr. 
Edwards that for once I was mistaken ; when he 
whirled on his heel, and went up-stairs to his office, 
laughing at my credulous disposition. I sat there 
wondering how it could be possible that I was mis- 
taken, when, in doing up the letter to put it back in 
the envelope, I saw on the fourth page a postscript 
dated the 8th, in which wife said, " Helen has come 
home very sick to-day ; " and there was given a 
description of her case in precisely the same words 
that I had used when writing home. The letter was 
dated the 6th of August, the same date of mine to 
them; but they did not close it until the 8th. I 
went immediately up-stairs, and let Mr. Edwards 
read the corroborating testimony of my going three 
thousand miles to diagnose a disease, and back again 

2* 



18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

in a few moments. He looked astonished, and 
finally told me I was a "wizard," and playfully- 
said he " wouldn't have me on his premises." 

The facts of the case were these; Helen being 
five miles away, teaching school, was taken violently 
sick with diphtheria ; but the folks with whom she 
boarded thought she would soon get over it, and 
didn't consider it necessary to carry her home ; of 
course her mother, who was five miles away from 
her, knew nothing about it until two days after she 
was taken ; but I, though three thousand miles 
away, knew it (as I heard afterwards, calculating 
the difference in time between the two places) the 
moment she was taken. This proves that there is no 
limitation to the range of spirit, whether in the phys- 
ical form or out of it. I could relate many others 
of similar nature in my experience, but this must 
suffice for this time. As I go along in my history, I 
shall have occasion to refer to many similar experi- 
ences, especially about the time when I commenced 
the investigation of modern Spiritualism, which will 
show how and why I became convinced of its pro- 
found truths. 

From the time this occurred, that is, the first 
dream related above, when I was about nine years 
old, there was nothing of note transpired until the 
spring when I was eleven years old. 



CHAPTER II. 

PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 

My father was a farmer, and, to enhance his 
income, annually peeled hemlock bark for tanning 
purposes, which when properly dried he would haul 
to a market, and exchange for money, or household 
commodities used in the family. The last of Novem- 
ber, 1824, he had a large load of this bark ready for 
transporting to Pittston, on the Kennebec River, 
some sixteen miles from our farm. He had intended 
to start in company with a neighbor by tKe name of 
Estes, Uncle Jonathan as he was familiarly called, 
who had a load of the same material ready loaded. 
In taking large loads of any material to market, it 
was customary for two neighbors to go together, so 
that they could " double up the hills," as they call it, 
when one team assists the other; by this process 
each can carry a much larger load than if alone. 
After father had made all his arrangements to go in 
company with this neighbor, some business matters 
coming up which had to be attended to, he made up 
his mind to defer going till another day. While we 
were taking our supper, Uncle Jonathan came in to 
inquire what time father intended starting. He was 
told that he couldn't go at all, father giving his rea- 

19 



20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

sons. Uncle Jonathan said he must go if he went 
alone, in which case he would be obliged to leave a 
part of his load behind. After a few minutes the 
old man says, " Why can't thee let David and Henry 
go ? I will do the selling and buying, and I can 
have thy team to assist me up the hills." After a 
few minutes' reflection the proposal was favorably 
received; and so it was settled that Henry and I 
should go to the great town of Pittston, where we 
should see so many new things. For us, who had 
never been over five miles from home before, to go so 
far was quite an event in our secluded lives. After 
we had finished our evening meal, we were told to 
go to bed immediately, as we were to start at twelve, 
midnight. The idea of our going to sleep with such 
prospects ahead of us, was simply ridiculous. We 
lay and talked, and speculated in a suppressed tone 
about what we probably should- see ; and, as new 
thoughts constantly came before our excited minds, 
sleep was getting farther and farther away from our 
eyelids. We had no means for knowing the time, 
but at last the joyful word came, to " get up." We 
were not long in getting our clothes on, and ourselves 
down stairs, where mother had provided a bountiful 
breakfast, steaming hot, to which we did ample jus- 
tice. While we were eating, father was yoking up 
the oxen, and getting them ready. Before we had 
finished our early meal, we heard. Uncle Jonathan 
drive along, and by the time father had our team 
" hitched up " we were ready to start. Mother pro- 
vided us an ample lunch to eat the next day. All 
tilings being ready, the teams were started, Uncle 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 21 

Jonathan taking the lead. Father attended us a 
short distance to see that all was right, when he re- 
traced his steps, and we were fairly under way on our 
first journey to a distant town. We trudged along 
by the side of our team, and that was about all we 
had to do ; for the cattle followed the team ahead, and 
seemed to know they were on their own u hook." 
Towards morning there was quite a shower of rain, 
but about daylight the clouds broke away, and before 
sunrise not one was to be seen. We arrived at our 
destination about eight, A.M., tired, foot-sore, and 
hungry. After the teams were disconnected from the 
cart, chained to the wheels, and eating their " corn- 
stalks," we ate our cold breakfast sitting on a log, 
our eyes all the while wandering all " over the lot," 
scanning critically every thing ; for every thing was 
new to us. What attracted my attention more than 
any thing else was what I subsequently learned was 
called a topsail schooner. She lay tied up to the 
wharf just below where we were sitting. After we 
had finished eating, and while Uncle Jonathan was 
hunting up a purchaser of the bark, I went down to 
the head of the wharf to inspect more closely the 
" ship," as I thought every thing that sailed on the 
ocean was called. At this time all the sails were 
hoisted up to dry, having got wet from the rain of 
the night previous. Of course I knew nothing what- 
ever about -a vessel of any kind, not the names of the 
different sails or rigging, or, in fact, any thing which 
went into the make-up. I thought she was,* and in 
fact she was, the grandest thing I had ever seen ; and 
I contemplated her with the greatest possible inter- 



22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

est. I inspected critically her hull, masts, and rig- 
ging, also the sails. The vessel was " light ; " that 
is, had no cargo in her hold, consequently there was 
but a small portion of her hull under water ; and, 
judging from what was above the water-line, I was 
enabled to determine very near how the part under 
water must be formed to correspond with the portion 
above. After my inspection of the vessel was 
through with, it seemed to me that I had the whole 
of her, sails, rigging, and hull, within, my compre- 
hension. How to ascertain the proper proportions 
of the length of the masts and spars to the length of 
the vessel somewhat puzzled me : to get this impor- 
tant knowledge I went up to the head of the wharf 
intuitively, and compared the length of the masts 
with the length of the vessel, and found, as near as I 
could tell, that the masts were very near as long as 
the hull of the vessel, which conclusion I subsequent- 
ly ascertained was very near correct. From the first 
look at the vessel, I got a longing to build one myself ; 
and, by the time I had got through with my inspec- 
tion, I had fully determined that I would, and that 
I would sail her over a large pond on our farm. 
Exactly how this was to be brought about, I hadn't 
the slightest idea, for father was decidedly opposed 
to my " foolish notions," as he was wont to designate 
my architectural proclivities ; but somehow or other 
I couldn't disconnect the conviction from my brain 
that I should build a vessel some way. I said 
nothing to my brother about my plans until nearly 
half-way home, when I told him of them, or rather 
of my determination to build a ship the ensuing 
spring, but enjoined the strictest secrecy. 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 23 

There was but a solitary chance for me to accom- 
plish any thing in that direction. In early spring 
father usually went to Bowdoinham on the Kenne- 
bec River, his native town, and from there went a- 
fishing three or four weeks ; seldom more than three, 
but occasionally he would prolong his visit to four. 
He might not go this spring, which was the only for- 
midable hinderance I had to fear. I had told my 
brothers over and over again through the winter 
what I intended to do when the snow was gone, all 
the time cautioning them to the profoundest secrecy. 
I told them if father found it out u the fat would all 
be in the fire ; " assuring them that if they kept it to 
themselves, and would assist me, they should all 
have a sail in my " ship." They promised compli- 
ance with my wishes ; and I don't think there- existed 
a doubt ill their young minds, but that I would build 
one, and that they would have a sail in her. This 
confidence was greatly enhanced, I think, by the fact 
that I was forever building dams and mills, or 
making something. They evidently thought me a 
superior genius ; and hence, when I desired the dear 
confiding creatures to assist me in my works, they 
were always ready and willing to comply. 

There was a piece of uncleared land about half a 
mile south-east of our house, which went by the 
name of the "Pine Woods." It was once covered 
with great white pine trees, the most of which had 
been made up into shingles ; but there were many 
parts of logs still lying on the ground. I had often 
passed through this land with the cattle, and I re- 
membered p.art of one large log which, if sound, 



24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

would do for the hull of my miniature ship. I had 
often spoken of this to my confederates through the 
winter ; but, as the snow was deep, I had no way of 
examining it until the snow left. Some time about 
the middle of March, the snow had so far gone that 
I could prospect pretty well. I did so, and found 
that if that log was sound I could have a " ship " 
over twenty feet long. Its soundness I could not tell 
until I cut it off, which I had as yet no opportunity 
of doing without risking my secret. " Hope deferred 
maketh the heart sick," it is said, and it did in my 
case. Up to this time father had said nothing about 
" going fishing : " at least, I hadn't heard him. Time 
rolled slowly on, my patience pining, till one Thurs- 
day evening, just before we were sent to bed, I heard 
father tell mother he was "going down river next 
week." Now, thought I, in a few days I shall com- 
mence my enterprise. 

I lay half that night thinking over my project, 
and wondering where I should find a log suitable, if 
the one I was thinking about proved unfit. 

Father got away on the 10th of April, my birth- 
day which made me twelve years old. 

The day previous to his leaving, he took me out 
into the " Pine Woods," and informed me that he 
was going to " clear up " a part of it ; and, as there 
were many remnants of old pine-trees scattered all 
over it, he wanted us boys to cut them up for " sum- 
mer wood " while he was gone. To encourage me he 
said, " If thee'll be a good boy, and see that the rest 
work well, I'll bring thee home something." I 
readily made most faithful promises, my feelings be- 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 25 

ing intensely aroused by my good luck in being 
placed right where of all others I most desired. 

Here I could carry on my works without exciting 
the suspicions of mother or any one else as to what 
we were up to ; and, if the great log I had selected 
was only sound, I was all right. Before father was 
out of sight I had the boys, four of us, on the spot, 
when I told them, that, if they would work hard 
enough to make up for me, I would get up the ship, 
and they should all have a sail in her. They prom- 
ised to do so, and all went to work, they to chopping 
wood, I to cutting off the big log. Oh, with what 
vigor I worked until I had got it off ! To my intense 
satisfaction, I found it was as sound as a nut. I cut it 
off twenty-one feet long : my rule for measuring was 
the axe-handle. I had no tools to work with except 
a broad and a narrow axe, drawing-knife, one and a 
fourth inch auger, and a one-inch chisel. With 
these tools I commenced forming the outside of the 
hull. I seemed to know just how to begin to save 
work ; and to-day I couldn't begin and carry on the 
work by any better system, with such tools as I then 
had, notwithstanding my lifetime experience, than I 
did in that operation. 

In the first place I hewed what I intended for 
the top side of the boat, then shaped the outside as 
I remembered the vessel looked that I was modelling 
from. 

After I got the outside to suit me, I commenced 
" digging it out ; " and it was several days before I 
had the inside completed, I intending to .have the 
sides and bottom about an inch thick. At length the 



26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

hull was complete. The next thing was to make 
the masts and spars (sticks, as I called them then), 
which I soon accomplished. I set her upright on 
some blocks, secured so as not to topple over. I 
remember with how much pride I looked on the 
hull, with her masts standing, and she sitting upright 
on the miniature stocks. 

We used to go and come from our work as regu- 
lar and steady as old men. Mother told me in 
after years, when referring to my boyish freaks, that 
she thought then that there was something special 
that kept us so steady to our work. We were called 
to our meals by mother's blowing a horn. I had to 
keep ever lecturing my confiding brothers " not to 
tell," and grew more earnest the further I had got 
my ship along. I was fearful that they might be 
overheard talking about it ; but they proved re- 
markably reticent, for no one else ever knew that a 
ship was being built in that section of the country, 
until she was finished, and had made several voyages 
across the "big pond." 

The next trouble to overcome was the rigging. 
Where was it to come from ? For without that I 
could do nothing. I remember, while making the 
masts and spars, that once or twice the rigging came 
into my mind ; but, as I never anticipate trouble, I 
threw thoughts of them away, preferring to wait 
until I came up to need of them. I used to do my 
main thinking after everybody was abed and asleep. 
The night after I had finished the spars, I lay think- 
ing what I could do to get the rigging, when a 
bright light flashed through my brain, and in a 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 27 

moment I saw a way to surmount the difficulty. 
Directly over where I lay, on a shelf supported by 
the collar-beams, were two large balls of doubled 
and twisted twine, which mother had prepared for 
making harnesses for weaving cloth in a loom. I 
determined at once to appropriate them for my use. 
This being settled, I went to sleep. Soon after day- 
light I was up, and got the twine down, ready for 
carrying it out to our shipyard. I had to use some 
little tact to get the twine away from the house 
unobserved. While " doing the chores," I had an 
opportunity to tell of my luck to my brothers, and 
the plan I had adopted to get the twine out to where 
I wanted to use it. I selected Philip to do the 
express business. He was instructed, after break- 
fast, to wait at the east end of the house ; the others 
to proceed to their work as usual. I was to go up 
stairs, as though I wanted to get something there, 
and watch for the signal agreed upon, to know when 
the " coast was clear." Directly I heard it, — a low 
whistle, — and out of the little window went the 
two balls of twine. The barn was due east from 
the house ; and, as arranged, Philip scampered as 
fast as he could, got behind the barn, and then 
kept the barn between him and the house until he 
got abreast of our working ground, when he could 
cross the field at leisure, and none in the house would 
be the wiser ; all of which he executed remarkably 
quick. Now I had got the material, but it must be 
made into a small rope to be useful. To do this I 
improvised a rope-walk. One of the boys I set to 
carrying an end away, until I thought the ball was 



28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

half unwound : then I fastened the " bite " to a 
stump ; next I took the ball, and started for the 
other end of the string, unrolling as I went along. 
We then twisted at each end with our fingers, 
doubled it several times, until it was large enough 
for my purpose ; and before the horn called us to 
dinner the next day I had her completely rigged. 

The next difficulty, and by all odds the hardest 
to overcome, was to obtain material for the sails. I 
had occasionally thought of this, but how success 
was to come about I didn't exactly know ; yet, like 
the twine business, I thought it might be obtained 
somehow or other. All the afternoon I was puzzling 
my brain as to where the cloth was to come from. 
At one time I thought I would go to the only store 
in that section of the country, some two miles dis- 
tant, get some cotton cloth, and have it charged to 
father. Then again I thought it was doubtful if the 
storekeeper would know me, and, if he did, I wasn't 
sure that he would trust father under the circum- 
stances ; so that scheme was given up. Before 
night, several other projects that suggested them- 
selves were abandoned as not feasible. I went to 
bed that night discouraged at the prospect, and felt 
the worse about it because I had got my enterprise 
so nearly finished. But hope, as she always does, 
came to my rescue. I thought that I might think 
of some way to overcome the difficulty, after I got 
still, and all hands asleep; then I thought of many 
ways, but upon close inspection found they wouldn't 
do. At last, when hope had left me for the present, 
turning over in the bed, I happened to think its 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 29 

sheets would serve my purpose. Instantly the reso- 
lution was formed to take them, and make them into 
sails, and run the risk of getting an extra " thrash- 
ing." I expected to get well punished for what I 
had already done, and concluded that I might as 
well "be hung for an old sheep as a lamb;" so I 
firmly resolved to take sheets enough for my pur- 
pose. Now, then, I had to calculate how many of 
them my ship would require, and found need for at 
least three. Then I matured my plans for getting 
them into my sail-loft, where the sails could be made 
up. I think it was past midnight before I closed 
my eyes to sleep. The plan adopted for getting 
them away from the house was precisely the same 
as in the twine business. I was out bright and early 
the next morning, full of bright anticipations of 
soon launching my little ship. Of course we all 
knew that when they made up the beds the sheets 
would be missed, and that there would be a general 
inquiry and hunt for their whereabouts. I had 
instructed the boj^s what to say when asked about 
them ; they were to give the same answer as they 
did about the " twine " affair. As it may be asked 
what came out of purloining the twine, I will 
merely say, that, before the twine had been made 
into a rope, Sally Varney, a neighbor, and the only 
person in that section of the country who under- 
stood making twine into loom-harness, called for 
the twine, which mother had prepared for the pur- 
pose, and which she thought was still lying on the 
shelf where she left it. When she went to get it, 
it couldn't be found ; and, after diligently searching 



30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

every nook and corner without finding it, mother 
finally concluded that some one must have stolen it. 
Of course, when asked, none of us knew any thing 
about it ; and consequently she had to make more, 
before she could go on with her weaving. When 
she asked me, I felt so bad I could hardly suppress 
crying, especially because my act would force her, 
an invalid, to work so hard, and because she was 
always so cheerful and pleasant to all, and especially 
to me. The only excuse I had for myself for taking 
the twine and sheets was, that I couldn't help it. 
I thought that my ship must be built at all hazards ; 
and, to do it, I must have the materials somehow or 
other. The sheets seemed to be a more serious 
affair than the twine, and I almost quailed to meet 
the searching inquiry that I knew would be made. 
There was only one circumstance which I thought 
might screen the evidence of my act for a short time. 
I knew that eventually the secret must come out, 
and the real culprit be brought to the surface. It 
was this : My brother Henry, only thirteen months 
my junior, was in the habit of getting up in his 
sleep, and hiding things, often his own clothes, where 
neither he nor any one else could find them. I 
thought of this at the time I determined on taking 
the sheets. This was all the hope of avoiding 
prompt detection I had to lean upon. Like all 
culprits, I wanted to put off the day of reckoning as 
long as possible. In addition to taking the sheets, I 
had taken the shears to cut out my sails with, and the 
only darning-needle mother had. But these could 
be returned after I had used them. As I expected, 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 31 

when we went in to dinner that day, there was a 
most searching inquiry for the sheets, shears, and 
needle ; there being a large family to mend and sew 
for, the two latter articles were constantly in use. 
I had trained my brothers, when asked about them, 
to merely say, " I don't know," fearing to trust them 
to say more. Having failed to elicit any satisfactory 
information from them, mother finally asked me if 
Henry got up in the night. I said, " Yes." " There," 
she says, " he has hid them away somewhere ; " and 
nothing was said about it at that time. But the 
shears and needle went away so mysteriously, as to 
puzzle her more than the absence of the sheets. 
The shears and needle she had been using late the 
evening before, even after we had all gone to bed up 
stairs. The next day both were found in an out-of- 
the-way place, but conspicuous enough to catch the 
eye of any one passing, as I intended they should 
be. I almost positively knew I should be severely 
punished for what I had done, as I had heard father 
often quote from old Solomon's sayings, " He that 
spares the rod spoils the child : " yet the pleasure of, 
building a ship myself, and being captain while sail- 
ing her over the big pond, quite overcame all dread 
of getting a " licking," as we used to call a good 
sound thrashing. That would soon be over; but I 
should long retain the proud distinction and satis- 
faction of building and sailing a ship under circum- 
stances most discouraging. This satisfaction would 
endure as long as my memory should exist. 

I had good luck in cutting and making my sails ; 
and in two days she was ready to launch. During 



32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the last few days I was in a constant fever of excite- 
ment, for fear that father would get home before I 
got my vessel in the water. Good luck had attended 
me through the whole affair thus far, and it did not 
desert me at this critical moment. He omitted to 
make his appearance until the very day, late in the 
afternoon, that I got my ship on her element in the 
morning. We had about a quarter of a mile to haul 
her across the field to reach the pond, which we did 
with a yoke of oxen, the vessel being on a large 
" drag " that was used for hauling stone. About 
nine, a.m., we launched her. I had some fears that 
she might not stand up : so before we got in I put 
some stone in for ballast ; and, when we found that 
she stood up stiff, our exultation knew no bounds. 
There was a brisk breeze blowing at the time 
directly across towards where I wanted to go. 
Henry got in forward, and I aft (or behind as I said, 
not being versed in nautical phraseology). I got 
the sails up ; and, when all was ready, I let go of a 
bush I was holding on to. She moved slowly at 
first, I steering; but soon she gathered headway, 
and we skimmed over the broad expanse of waters 
as pretty as any ship ever did, whatever pretensions 
for sailing qualities others might possess. Not even 
Columbus when he discovered America had feelings 
to compare with mine, when we were sailing so 
prettily over the pond for the first time. I realized 
the important fact, that I had built a vessel, and was 
sailing captain of her over the tempestuous seas of a 
pond in the middle of a forest. After we reached 
the other shore we got out, turned her around, and 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 33 

sailed back again, landing at the very point from 
where we started on our trial trip. I took another 
brother as passenger on the next voyage, and 
followed up, giving each a turn till all had their 
pleasure-trip. We kept it up all day, going back 
and forth, changing passengers at every trip, until 
late in the afternoon when the wind died away. 
When I was in the middle of the pond on my last 
voyage for the day, father came in sight of us on 
what was then called Dudley's Hill. Although we 
did not see him, or think or care any thing about 
him or anybody else, our enthusiasm overcoming 
every other consideration, yet, as I learned after- 
wards, he watched some of our manoeuvres from the 
top of the hill referred to, ivhich overlooked our 
farm. He had an old sea-captain in the wagon with 
him, by the name of Norton, who lived two or three 
miles above us, and who was coming home with 
father to see about purchasing a yoke of our oxen. 
Capt. Norton, in overlooking our farm from the 
height spoken of, discovered my ship, and, sailor 
like, sung out "Sail-ho." Father, who was part of 
a sailor, says, " Where away ? " " Over there," said 
Capt. Norton, pointing towards us. Father stopped 
his horse when he perceived us, saying, " That's that 
David's work. The boys haven't done a day's work 
since I've been gone. I'll pay him for that." Capt. 
Norton, as he informed us years afterwards, told 
father that he ought to encourage him (meaning 
me). " I," he said, " should be proud of such a boy." 
Father continued, " He's always building mills, 
dams, and turning-lathes, or something else ; any 



34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

thing but working on the farm." When they 
reached our home, it was supper-time. At the 
blowing of the horn we went in to supper, well 
pleased with our day's pleasure. We hadn't a 
thought that father had got home, and didn't dream 
that he had seen our miniature ship. After I found 
him at supper, I knew that the story would soon be 
told; and I began to prepare for my flogging. Father 
asked me how much wood we had cut. I said, " A 
good lot ; " and so we had ; I really believe that 
considerable more was cut than there would have 
been if I had worked with my brothers. I noticed 
that father was unusually pleasant. Capt. Nor- 
ton's talk with him about me cooled him off some- 
what. 

After supper was over, Henry and I were told to 
drive the cattle up to the " bars." The pasture 
where the cattle were kept was a little beyond, and 
on a line where we had been at work. We started 
in the direction of the pasture, expecting father and 
the captain would follow ; and, as they would have 
to pass near where our wood was piled, he could see 
that there was " a good lot " cut and piled. Instead 
of going the nearest way, however, they kept to the 
left, heading directly to the pond where my ship 
lay moored in the bushes. 

I thought, as they were busy talking, that they 
were not conscious where they were going; not 
thinking, as before stated, that they had seen my 
ship ; and to call their attention to the right path I 
hallooed saying, " The oxen are this way." They 
took no notice of my call, but kept on direct 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 35 

towards my ship. I began to feel uneasy at the 
prospect. Although I knew it was only a matter of 
a few hours before it would all be known, yet I, 
like all guilty people, and more especially little boys, 
desired to defer being found out in misdeeds as long 
as possible. Directly I heard father call my name. 
I pretended not to hear him. He bawled out the 
second time, " David, come here." I kept on pre- 
tending again not to hear, when Henry says, 
" Answer him, David." At this, I stopped, looked 
round, and saw father beckoning me to him. 

I knew now that the " fat was all in the fire." 
We started slowly towards him, when Henry says, 
" O David! thee'll get an awful licking," and com- 
menced crying. I said, " I know it, and am ready for 
it." When we got where they were standings father 
says, " What's that ? " pointing to my little ship. I 
said, " It's a ship." — " That's right, my boy," says 
the captain, patting me sympathetically on the head. 
Father then told me to " get in, and sail her." I 
said, " The wind has gone down, and a vessel won't 
sail without the wind blows." — " That's right, my 
boy," again ejaculated the good captain. Father 
was good to us ; but he had an erroneous idea in that 
he thought that children had no rights that he was 
bound to consider, because they were young. If it 
hadn't been for religious blindness causing him to 
coerce, instead of using his reason in educating the 
young, and preparing them to assume the responsi- 
bilities of life, he would not have had in after-years 
so much cause as he did to regret his own lack of 
wisdom. My object, however, is not to moralize, or 



36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

tell what parents ought to do to or for their children, 
bnt to state facts in my own experience. I couldn't 
help feeling a flow of sympathy coming from the 
great heart of the old sailor, and I wished my father 
was like him. After the above conversation we 
were told to drive the cattle up, which we did ; and 
after talking, and measuring the oxen, the captain 
took one yoke, and drove them off. On the evening 
of that eventful day to me, after the chores were 
done, and all hands were ready for bed, father told 
mother about my ship. Mother exclaimed at once, 
" There's my twine, and there's where my sheets 
have gone." She continued, " I thought they were 
remarkably busy." Upon that father said, " I'll 
settle with him in the morning." Oh, how I dreaded 
that ! If he had thrashed me there and then, I 
should have got over it before morning ; but I had 
to lie and dread it all night, and then get up in the 
morning expecting to take it. Father often pursued 
this course, laboring under the hallucination (for it 
certainly was such in my case) that old Solomon's 
suggestion not to spare the rod would be more 
effective, if he tortured by putting off punishment 
over night. But he lived up to the best light he 
had at that time, although I thought then that he 
might have done far more towards making us good 
and obedient children by a different course. When 
I started for bed, mother followed me, and, when 
out of hearing by father, embraced and hugged me 
to her bosom, kissing me over and over again, both 
of us crying ; she from sympathy for me, I from 
dread of the promised thrashing that would come 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 37 

with dawn of the next day. We had a good though 
sad time together ; at last she says, " What made thee 
do that, David ? " I said, " I couldnH help it, mother." 
Both of us were still crying. " There, never mind, 
darling," she says : " I will coax father not to whip 
thee ; " and after kissing me again and again, she 
told me to go to bed and to sleep. Whether it was 
the hope of her success in influencing father not to 
thrash me, or her pure love, that lulled me to sleep, 
I do not know : at all events, I was soon in the close 
embrace of " nature's sweet restorer," and slept 
soundly until morning. When I awoke, the first 
thought that greeted me was a " licking." Father 
generally would "settle" with us before we were 
up, or immediately after ; and, as he didn't come, I 
got up and dressed, wondering whether he had for- 
gotten it altogether, or was going to torture me still 
further by delaying the castigation. I went to work 
"doing up the chores" until breakfast was an- 
nounced. After that was through with, and the 
morning devotions were solemnized by mother's first 
reading a chapter in the Bible, and then telling how 
good and loving God was, followed by a sitting of a 
half-hour's length in absolute silence, father and 
mother worshipping God in their hearts, I and all 
my dear brothers and sisters thinking about the 
" licking " in store for me. They all deeply sympa- 
thized with me in my sad fate, and I think any one 
of them would willingly have suffered for me. By 
this time the girls, large and small, knew about my 
" ship." After the religious ceremonies were over, 
and before we left our seats, father began to talk to 



38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

me in a very solemn manner, telling me the " terri- 
ble" effects of sin, picturing more vividly than ever 
the magnitude of that sulphurous lake of fire and 
brimstone " where the worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched," repeating what he and darling 
mother had said hundreds of times before, that into 
this awful abyss of liquid fire all wicked men and 
women, and especially naughty boys who disobeyed 
their parents (I knew he meant me), were plunged 
head and heels, to fry and sizzle for ever and ever. 
After dilating at some length upon the enormity of 
my sin, showing as vividly as he could that the evil 
effects of setting a bad example to the rest, and 
teaching them to go ahead upon any thing that they 
had set their hearts upon doing, without first con- 
sulting the parents whether it was best or not, was 
very reprehensible, and that, in the eyes of God's 
justice, such culprits were sure to find themselves in 
the awful place, after their bodies were "laid in the 
cold, cold ground, food for worms," he dismissed us; 
saying that through the interposition of mother he 
would defer punishing me at this time, threatening 
that, if I ever did such a thing again, he " would pay 
me up for old and new." All through this great 
preamble my mind was most of the time on my 
ship. I queried, when he said we ought to consult 
our parents before entering on any enterprise, how 
long I should have had to wait before I could show 
the world that I could build and sail a ship on my 
own hook, had I consulted him. After all was over, 
we went about our daily routine of farm-work each 
succeeding day until it was time for me to again go 



PRECOCIOUS SHIPBUILDING. 39 

away from home to work ; for such was my custom 
a part of each year. 

Thus ends the account of my first enterprise in 
shipbuilding, which, considering the discouraging cir- 
cumstances under which it was brought to a success- 
ful termination, fairly eclipses the operations of 
many a " child of larger growth," no matter how 
great might be his pretensions to superior construc- 
tive skill and business qualifications. It is true that 
there is no other particular significance in my opera- 
tion than showing the bent of my faculties in boy- 
hood, and what may be done when one has an 
object in view, and perseveres unto the end; and 
also showing, as the reader will see, that this was 
only one round in the ladder of my progression 
preparatory for taking a step higher, and so of every 
succeeding step. 

It may be asked how I can reconcile the course I 
pursued in getting materials for my ship with my 
fair pretensions to upright and proper behavior. 
I will only say that at that time I had as much 
reverence for goodness as I have ever entertained, 
and was just as anxious then as now to keep myself 
and all mankind out of the* brimstone premises. 
Every thought was pregnant with doing good : that 
was natural with me, not acquired, and hence there 
was no particular merit in it, because I couldn't 
help it any more than water can help running down 
an inclined plane. I had no compunctions of con- 
science for building mills or ships : on the contrary, I 
felt justified in doing so, because I was told that, 
when I did any thing not agreeable to or allowable 



40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

by father, he would " square " the account by 
giving me a thrashing. I was willing to settle in 
that way, and upon his own terms. I thus bargained 
with him, and didn't see but that it was as fair as 
any other trade agreed upon beforehand. , 



CHAPTER III. 

AT SCHOOL IN PROVIDENCE, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 

The summer following the successful termination 
of my first operation in shipbuilding, as usual 
during a few years I worked at a " carding-machine," 
in the fall at a " fulling-mill," and attended school 
in winter. In the fall of this year occurred an 
event which had much to do in determining my 
future career. 

As before stated, my parents, as also we children, 
belonged to the society of Friends, or Quakers. It 
is customary to send two children from each monthly 
meeting to Providence every year, where their tui- 
tion, board, and lodging are paid for out of a fund 
left by an old Quaker by the name of Brown, who 
founded the institution. Each scholar is allowed 
six months' schooling free; after which, if he re- 
mains, he is compelled to pay for his accommoda- 
tions. 

Father determined to avail himself of this privi- 
lege, and send me to Providence. His application 
was successful ; he was one of the brightest lights 
they had, so they couldn't refuse his request. The 
meeting gave me the necessary papers to secure an 
entrance into said school. Preparations were com- 

41 



42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

menced immediately, to get me ready for the long 
journey. Considering the slow mode of travelling 
in those days when there were neither railroads nor 
steamboats, together with my youth (for I would 
not be fourteen years old until the following April), 
it was indeed a long journey, and, for one so inex- 
perienced with the ways of the world, was a great 
undertaking. The stage-coach and sailing-vessels 
were the only resources for travellers. Near the 
last days of October I was ready for the journey. 
A trunk amply filled with suitable clothing was my 
only baggage. I shall never forget the eventful 
morning that" witnessed my departure from the 
scenes of my childhood to a distant city. 

My brothers and sisters, as also my dear, anxious 
mother, were in tears, as well as myself ; and when 
the wagon that was to convey me to Augusta, where 
I was to take passage in a vessel to Boston, was 
brought round to the front door, and my trunk 
put in, and the last hand-shake and loving kiss 
given and taken, the flood-gates of my soul seemed 
to burst their bounds, flooding my entire being 
with the waters of unfeigned grief. When all was 
ready, father said, " Come, David, and get in ; " 
he having hard work to suppress his own emotions, 
arising from the scenes he was witnessing. At last 
we were off ; the dear ones at home, with streaming 
eyes, watching us, until lost to view by intervening 
hills. A couple of hours brought us to Augusta, 
where father had previously engaged my passage to 
Boston, in the schooner " Eagle," Capt. Blanchard. 
Father paid my fare to Boston : from thence I was 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 43 

to go in a stage to Providence. He also gave me 
thirteen dollars to pay my way after I left the 
packet, and have a little pocket-money besides. I 
mention the amount of money, because it was the 
first considerable sum I ever had ; and when I real- 
ized that it was all mine, to be paid out for my own 
personal necessities, and by myself, it put me in a 
sort of dignified condition never before experienced. 
In fact, I felt as though I had arrived at a state 
bordering on manhood ; for now I was left entirely 
to my own decisions, without the guiding counsel of 
either father or mother. 

When we arrived at Bath, the last important place 
on the river before we should get out to sea, there 
was a strong north-east storm raging, and the captain 
hauled alongside of a wharf to wait for fair weather 
before proceeding to sea. The storm lasted three 
days. The sailors employed their time evenings, and 
sometimes daytime, in amusing themselves in a 
bowling-alley and drinking-room, on the outskirts of 
the town, directly abreast of where we were laying. 
As I had become partially acquainted with the sail- 
ors, I used to go with them ; and as it was new to me 
I enjoyed their bowling very much. They employed 
me to set up the pins for them ; they paid me a trifle 
for this, which went towards replenishing my " pile." 
One evening, and it proved to be the last that we 
were to remain there, as usual I went up with the 
sailors to witness the evening's entertainment, and 
did not come on board until quite late. Since father 
left me, at every convenient time, when no one was 
observing me, I would take out and count my money, 



44 .AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

to see if it was all right. Father gave me strict cau- 
tion not to lose it ; and, besides, it had a sort of charm 
for me. I suppose I did this twenty times after 
leaving our place of departure. When we got on 
board this evening, and when about retiring, I took 
out my wallet to look at my money ; when, lo ! it was 
all gone, not a cent left. I searched all the open- 
ings of my wallet, all the pockets of my pants and 
vest, but not a cent could I find. I knew it was all 
right before I went ashore, as I looked at it. Words 
are wanting to describe my feelings at that moment. 
I had been nowhere but to the alley ; neither do I 
remember taking out my wallet after leaving the 
vessel. Although the sailors drank, I did not. At 
last I concluded that I must have fallen asleep, 
although I had no such recollections, and that some 
one took it, and replaced the wallet. I crawled into 
my berth crying as though my heart would break ; 
and no wonder, for I fully comprehended my situa- 
tion. Here I was bound on a long voyage, to land 
among total strangers in the great city of Boston, 
with not one cent to defray my necessary expenses. 
Though my passage was paid to Boston, I queried 
how was I to get from there to Providence, or pay 
for my meals after I landed in Boston. As all these 
serious troubles ahead came bubbling up through my 
excited and anxious mind, it seemed as though my 
fate was sealed, and my voyage must end with dis- 
aster. After a long while " nature's sweet restorer " 
came to my aid, and I fell asleep. 

Sometime in the latter part of the night the storm 
ceased its fury, and the wind changed; they got 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 45 

under way, and when I got up the next morning we 
were passing Seguin Light. The vessel began roll- 
ing and pitching about. I began to be sick, and 
to " throw up," as sailors call vomiting. To those 
who know by experience the sensations of seasick- 
ness, I have nothing to say ; and, to those unac- 
quainted with its deathly sensation, I will merely 
say it's strictly indescribable. After each throw-up 
I would have a little respite; but I couldn't go 
below during the whole passage ; for, the moment I 
would go to the gangway leading into the cabin, the 
smell of the bilgewater would make me vomit. To 
make it still worse, the jolly, roguish sailors told me 
the best remedy for seasickness was to tie a string to 
a piece of fat pork, souse it in molasses, swallow it, 
haul it up by the string, replenish it with molasses, 
swallow it again, and do the same thing for a dozen 
times, when I could be well. They very thought of 
it made me vomit then, and almost does now. 

With my new but not unexpected troubles, for I 
was told I should be seasick, I quite forgot about the 
loss of my money, or in fact any thing else. I felt 
that I had just as lief be over as on board. It was 
not until the third day, about ten, A.M., that we got 
alongside of a wharf in Boston, owing to a constant 
head- wind the whole distance. 

The vessel was a regular packet from Augusta to 
Boston; and, as it was known at all the hotels that 
she was due, they were on the lookout for her. It 
was announced by signals (a sort of telegraphing) 
that we were coming up the harbor ; and, by the time 
we were fairly tied up alongside the wharf, there 



46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

were at least a dozen coaches from as many public 
houses, to take passengers to their favorite places. 
I was the only passenger ; and, if the coachmen had 
seen the depletion of my wallet, they wouldn't have 
been so clamorous as they were for my patronage. 
As it was, I didn't care where I went ; but as good 
luck would have it, somehow or other my trunk was 
put on a coach belonging to the Marlboro' Hotel on 
Washington Street. While riding up I kept think- 
ing what I should say or do when the hackman 
should come for his pay for taking me to the hotel. 
" What can I tell him ? " I kept asking myself. But 
he didn't call for it. The custom then was, that 
passengers who stopped at the house that owned the 
coach were charged nothing for the ride. I saw my 
trunk deposited in a little room off the office in the 
hotel. I sat down in the office wondering what 
would turn up next. I saw folks laughing and talk- 
ing, seemingly happy ; and here I was among total 
strangers in a great city, half-starved, without a cent 
to pay for food I very much needed ; for now it was 
over three days since I had tasted a mouthful of any 
thing. This hunger with my other mishaps filled 
me with sad forebodings. When the "gong" 
sounded for dinner, it being the first time I had ever 
heard such a thundering, outlandish noise, I was 
half frightened out of my wits : it was sounded only 
a little distance from my back. As I had nothing to 
pay with, I didn't dare to go into dinner. At supper- 
time it was the same ; and I went to bed faint, hun- 
gry, and discouraged. After I retired I had a good 
cry, which relieved me : then I dropped into a sweet 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 47 

sleep, and didn't wake until the gong sounded for 
breakfast the next morning. I had made up my 
mind, while dressing, that I would tell the landlord 
my predicament ; but, whenever he came near 
enough, my resolution failed me. When he went 
into the dining-room to wait upon his guests, one 
of his daughters came into the office, and waited 
there until he got through. This morning, when she 
entered, she looked at me with such a sweet sympa- 
thizing smile that my heart leaped into my mouth. 
It was the first kind look I had seen since leaving 
my home, and it was with the greatest effort that I 
could keep my equilibrium ; I thought she pitied me, 
she seemed so homelike. After the landlord got 
through with his duties in the dining-room, he came 
into the office, and seeing me sitting there with a 
woe-begone look, as I suppose, came directly to me, 
and, putting his hands on my shoulders, said kindly, 
"Young man, why don't you go in to breakfast? 
you haven't eat any thing since you came here." He 
spoke so kind and fatherly, that I burst out crying, 
and ran into the baggage-room to hide my tears. 
He followed me in, and so did his beautiful daughter. 
She was crying, and didn't know for Avhat ; probably 
it was from sympathy for me. He kept asking me 
what was the matter. When I had recovered my 
composure sufficiently, I told him the whole story, — 
where I was going, and how I had lost my money, 
and ended by telling him, if he would give me some- 
thing to eat, I would sell him some of my clothes in 
payment ; showing him my trunk, telling him it was 
chock full of good clothes. He heard me through, 



48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

and then patted me caressingly on my head, saying, 
" Never mind about the pay : when the boarders get 
through, come in and eat with my family ; " contin- 
uing, " Your father was very reprehensible to let one 
so young go so far with no one for company ; but I 
will make that all right." I felt as though a moun- 
tain had been removed off my back. When the 
guests had got through with breakfast, he took me 
into the dining-room, and introduced me to his wife 
and family. Somehow or other I felt quite easy and 
at home ; they all tried to make me feel so. I had 
been so long without any thing to eat, they cautioned 
me about eating too much at first. That afternoon, 
when the family went on a drive, they took me along 
with them, and in the evening took me to the thea- 
tre, which was all new to me. I saw so many new 
and fine things in the theatre that I felt as though I 
was in a new world. 

The following morning I got an early breakfast ; 
and, when the stage drove up for passengers to Prov- 
idence, my trunk was put on, when my new-found 
father led me to the door, saying to the driver, " This 
is the son of a friend of mine, on his way to the 
Quaker school in Providence. I want you to put 
him down at the door of the institution ; do you 
hear ? " says he. He reminded the driver that my 
fare was all paid ; and when I left he gave me 
seven dollars for pocket-money. After shaking 
hands with every member of the family, they bade 
me God-speed, and we were off. Soon after sunset, 
after a fine day's ride, the driver put me down at the 
steps of the Quaker college. After examining my 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 49 

credentials, and finding them all right, the principal 
of the place, Mr. Gould, received me very cordially, 
and at once assigned me a room for my occupancy. 
While taking tea with him in the great dining-hall, 
he asked me my age. I told him I should be four- 
teen the 10th of next April. " Not April" he says, 
" but next fourth month; " continuing, " we have no 
Aprils here." I mention this little incident to show 
how very strict they are in adhering to all the rules 
and regulations of their mode of religious training, 
also to show how careful I had occasion to be against 
giving them umbrage by using a word not laid down 
in their " rules of conduct." To those unacquainted 
with the peculiarities of this Christian sect, I will 
say that they do not think it right to employ many 
of the phrases in common use, because they §ay it is 
conforming to the fashionable habits of a sinful and 
adulterous world : hence, instead of saying " Janu- 
ary, February," &c, they say " first and second 
months ; " instead of using the plural, in addressing 
each other, they use the singular number ; that is, in- 
stead of saying " you " to one person, they say " thee " 
or " thou." When the ceremony of introducing me to 
Mr. Mitchel (" Mokey," as the boys called him) was 
over, he had my name enrolled on the list of scholars, 
and, after examining me as to my educational profi- 
ciency, selected the proper books for me to peruse 
after I should be fairly installed in my new home. 

My room-mate was a boy about my own age, by 
the name of George W. Keen, of Lynn, Mass., with 
whom I soon became on the most familiar terms. 
He was kind, sympathetic, and genial. We occupied 



50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the same room as long as I remained there, each 
maintaining confidence in and respect for the other 
through the whole term of my stay. 

I made fair progress in all of my studies, and 
especially in mathematics, in which I excelled ; sel- 
dom, if ever, needing the aid of teachers in solving 
our most intricate and most difficult problems, but 
not always with despatch. Sometimes, when I had 
puzzled over one during the day without finding its 
solution, I would dream it out in my sleep, and re- 
member these nocturnal solutions so vividly when I 
awoke, that I could go to my desk and put down the 
figures on my slate as I saw them in my dream, 
without perceiving how the result was reached. I 
would remember the record so distinctly that I 
could transfer the figures from my dream slate to my 
waking one ; and not only that, but I sensed the 
whys and wherefores better than when figuring in 
the ordinaiy way. The real facts of the case were, I 
copied the figures from my phantom slate, to the one 
that I called more material ; and the one was just as 
palpable to my vision as the other. 

I will relate a few incidents connected with my 
stay at the institution, and then shall have done 
with my scholastic life, and will commence upon the 
hard realities of an active, and in spots a singularly 
eventful and fitfully successful business life. 

When I arrived at this institution of learning, I 
was as tall in stature as most boys of my age, but 
very slim, in fact, almost a shadow compared with 
many there ; and as I was naturally very bashful, 
timid, and retiring, some of the boys thought they 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 51 

could knock me about just as they took a fancy to, 
without any fears of my resentment. There was 
one great lumikin, overgrown, overbearing, confident 
boy, who was a sort of bulldog among them ; and, no 
matter what he would do to those less blessed with 
rounded-out muscles, not one dared to resent his 
formidable prowess. His name was Samuel Austin. 
I had not been installed in my new home a day, 
before he tried it on me. At any and all times when 
near me he would take hold of my shoulders roughly, 
and throw me round. Sometimes I would fall to the 
floor ; then there would be a general guffaw laugh 
among the boys, and all sorts of derisive names would 
be hurled at me. I often heard them say, " He's a 
coward," &c, and, " dasn't dare to take his own 
part." Some would say, " I guess his mother don't 
know he's out." But I didn't care what they said, 
if they didn't touch me. No one but this Sam, up 
to this time, had attempted that. There being some 
two hundred of us, and the accommodation for 
washing being limited to about fifty washbowls, of 
course one had to wait for another. The custom 
was, when one was washing for those waiting to say, 
" I speak next." It seemed to me that Sam was 
bound to annoy me from the first, as though he had 
a particular grudge against me. He would wait 
until I had a basin filled with water, when he would 
take hold of my shoulders, and slat me round to the 
infinite amusement of the rest, then take my basin, 
and wash himself. He had done this every morning 
since my arrival. The fact was, I was half frightened 
out of my senses. I tried to keep out of his and 



52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

everybody else's way, but it was no use. They were 
bound to have me for a laughing-stock any way, 
and matters every day growing worse ; enhanced, I 
thought, by my apparent non-resistance. The fourth 
day of my stay was the hardest to put up with ; and 
although I had never participated in a fight, in fact 
never had seen one, never could even witness people 
talking hard to each other without trembling all over, 
and always tried to get out of hearing of angry 
talk, and up to this time never once thought of try- 
ing to defend myself from the aggravating, and, as 
far as Sam was concerned, malicious assaults. I had 
tried to get the sympathy of George, my room-mate ; 
but he was careful not to say any thing to which 
Sam would object, for fear of the consequence if Sam 
should hear of it. The fact was, he, with every one 
of the set, was afraid of him. Finding I hadn't a 
friend among them, or, if so, that their fears of this 
master prevented them from showing it, I conclud- 
ed, after I got to bed, to measure swords with this 
taunting Goliath. At first the thought frightened 
me ; but, the more I harbored it, the less formidable 
the conflict appeared ; and before daylight I had 
firmly resolved to " lick " Sam in the wash-room that 
morning if he gave me the least provocation, and I 
was sure he would. I scarcely closed my eyes to 
sleep all night, but rolled and tumbled, cogitating 
upon the conflict that would come off with the 
rising sun. I dressed, and went into the wash-room ; 
this time I waited for Sam, as he had previously 
done for me when he arrived first. Directly he 
came in, blustering and swaggering in a sort of 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 53 

shuffling gait. The moment I saw him enter, I went 
to a boy washing, and spoke "next." Standing 
right behind me, the moment I had filled my basin, 
as I anticipated, Sam took hold of me to whirl me 
round. I was watching his movements, although 
back to him ; and, instead of his whirling me round 
as he had previously done, I got him down on the 
floor, and pounded him with all my might. I heard 
a low chuckle from the bystanders at the moment he 
fell ; and that was the last I heard, or in fact knew 
about the encounter. I only recollected a sense of 
possessing immense strength, and of Sam's fall : the 
details of the fight I got of those who witnessed it. 
At first, they said, there was none who thought of 
interfering, as every one thought Sam could take 
care of himself; but finding the -champion was get- 
ting the worst of it, as the blood was streaming out 
of his eyes, nose, and mouth, some of his friends 
tried to haul me off; the moment they attempted 
that, they said, I would hug Sam all the tighter ; and, 
he being heavy, they had to give it up, and run for 
some of the officers. By the time the officers ar- 
rived, Sam was lying there senseless. They got me 
clear from him, sent for a doctor, and after a while 
got his face patched up ; but it was near a month 
before he was able to attend to his studies. The 
superintendent had me up for trial before I had got 
cleaned up ; and after an examination into the details 
of the case I was reprimanded, and sent to my room 
to wash up. The unexpected development of my 
great pugilistic qualities astonished everybody who 
witnessed it, but none more than myself. The offi- 



54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

cers called in several of the boys, who corroborated 
what I had said about Sam's abuse and insults, every 
one of whom fully testified to his insulting conduct 
towards me. They didn't dare to tell any thing 
different after witnessing that combat, for fear I 
would try my hand on them. After this, there was 
no question as to who was entitled to wear the belt. 
This was the only incident that occurred through my 
term, that tended to mar the general harmony 
among us. I hesitated some time about relating 
this incident, and should not have done so, but to 
carry out the general object had in view from the 
first ; viz., to show that I have been controlled in all 
important matters by unseen influences, who are 
ever near, watching my intentions, thoughts, and 
acts, and at all proper times, when the tide of cir- 
cumstances seemed to press me to the wall, and I 
had not a ray of hope for escape, they came to my 
aid. I have no more doubt that I was completely 
obsessed by some powerful pugilistic spirit, and that 
through me he gave Sam that awful castigation, than 
that I am writing this account of it. It may be said 
that it couldn't have been a very good spirit, who 
had such fighting proclivities ; but if taking the 
starch out of an overgrown, insulting boy, who made 
it a rule to insult everybody he dared to, was the 
direct means of making him, ostensibly at least, re- 
spectful and kind, of changing his whole deportment 
from an overbearing, unscrupulous, insulting course, 
to one of kind and genial manners, was bad, then I do 
not know the use of suffering. Thunder and light- 
ning may do some individual harm ; but if they serve 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 55 

to purify the atmosphere from poisonous, deadly- 
gases, they become a universal good. I might add 
other incidents connected with this attempt of add- 
ing to my small stock of knowledge, of more or less 
interest ; but, as I intend to relate only the more 
prominent ones here, I will defer others to another 
volume I am writing, entitled " Odds and Ends of 
an Eventful Life." 

The time for which I was entitled to staj^ having 
expired, I began to make preparations to leave. This 
was in May, 1828. The superintendent and all the 
teachers, not excepting Mr. Brown the founder of 
the institution, and by whose liberality it was kept 
up, tried to induce me to prolong my stay. Mr. 
Brown offered to defray all the expenses out of his 
own private purse. But I had got homesick, and 
nothing they could say or do had the least influence 
in changing my determination. All, old and young, 
with the exception of Sam, seemed heartily to regret 
my leaving, which was a source of extreme satisfac- 
tion to me. Finding that they could not alter my 
determination to go home, the teachers and superin- 
tendents, with their wives, selected such books from 
their libraries as they thought would be interesting 
and instructive to me, and offered them to me as 
tokens of their appreciation of my conduct while an 
inmate of the school. Everybody seemed to vie with 
each other in forcing me to accept some little token 
of regard as a remembrancer. I had so many books 
and other presents given me, that I was obliged to 
get an extra trunk to carry them home. I found a 
vessel at one of the wharves, bound to Augusta, in 



56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

which I took passage, and, after three days fair 
weather, landed at the above place. A farmer living 
near my home, who was in town to market, kindly 
offered me a passage home, where I arrived quite 
unexpectedly. I was received with that exuberance 
of feelings known only to those who have experienced 
them. 

Thus ended one of the very important periods of 
my early life. I arrived home much improved in 
looks, and possessing some more scholastic knowledge 
than when I left many months before. 

After having visited my relatives and acquaint- 
ances in the neighboring towns, I engaged work of a 
Mr. Tilden in his carding-machine and fulling-mill, 
for whom I worked through the summer and fall 
months several seasons. While working at the above 
place, father engaged me to teach the town school 
through the following winter. I commenced the 
school the 5th of December, and would not attain to 
my seventeenth year until the April following. The 
school was large in numbers, and embraced large 
boys and even men, one of whom was thirty-five. 
Many, if not all of the eldest, were then going to 
school for the last time. Somehow or other I had 
got the reputation of being very learned for one so 
young, and I was looked upon almost as a paragon 
of refinement and goodness ; which I never claimed 
to be, and did not envy the distinction with which 
they honored me. I boarded " round ; *' that is, each 
family boarded me in proportion to the number of 
scholars it sent to the school. The time I was an 
inmate of the different families varied from one to 



AT SCHOOL, AND SCHOOL TEACHING. 57 

four weeks. Wherever I was temporarily boarding 
I was treated with the greatest deference. The 
parents and their children almost adored me, and 
expressed unfeigned regret when my time came to 
take up my abode in another family. I had the best 
reasons for believing there was not a family in the 
district but would have esteemed it a privilege, and 
been pleased, to have boarded me the entire term, 
without compensation, if they could have afforded it. 
This was a source of great satisfaction to me ; and 
everybody regretted when the school closed, but 
none more than myself, as I fully appreciated their 
kindness, and was loath to leave where I had been 
so happy. To prove their sincerity, they engaged 
me for the next winter before I got through 
with this, there not being one dissenting voice, — 
pretty good evidence of my popularity. This school 
lasted five months. Before I had got through here, I 
engaged another of three months' duration in the 
same town, some two miles from my first effort at 
" teaching the young ideas how to shoot," at a place 
called Deer Hill, making in all eight months' con- 
tinuous teaching. Here I had the good fortune to 
please quite as well as in the former place. The 
following summer and fall I worked for the same 
man that I did the year previous, and at the same 
business ; the succeeding winter and spring, taught 
school at the same places as the winter before. It 
was while teaching here that I became acquainted 
with a Miss Rebecca F. Chapman, who some six 
years subsequently became my wife. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST VOYAGE WHALIKG. 

There was living, some three or four miles from 
my home, an old sea-captain by the name of Moore, 
with whom father was intimately acquainted. He 
had followed the whaling business long, and, having 
procured a competence, purchased a farm, and was 
now living at his ease. He came from Nantucket, 
famous in those days for being extensively engaged 
in carrying on the whaling business. This man was 
a great talker; and the hearing him often tell his 
wondrous sea-stories, and about killing the great 
sea-monsters, well seasoned with hairbreadth escapes, 
and thrilling events in the hazardous business, so 
interested my imagination, my sensitive, restless mind 
and roving disposition, that I determined to trj T the 
realities of one whaling voyage at least. After this 
was firmly fixed in my mind, I began to think how 
to get father's and mother's consent, expecting that 
they would veto the thing at once. But after telling 
father my desires, to my astonishment he made no 
particular objections, but doubted about getting 
mother's consent. I asked him to talk with her 
about it, and see what she would say. Soon after 
this conversation, as I found out afterwards, he 

58 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 59 

talked the matter over with her, and subsequently- 
broached the subject to me in her presence. She 
objected in toto. But, now that the ice was broken, 
I urged my suit with vigor. She held out some 
days ; but father, seeing my mind was set upon it, 
became my solicitor, and between us both we finally 
got her reluctant consent. 

Now, then, we must make the necessary prepara- 
tions ; and, as we were all ignorant of what things 
were needed, father and I rode over to Capt. Moore's 
to consult him in the matter. He kindly gave us all 
necessary information, and gave me a letter to some 
who were engaged in the business in Nantucket ; 
which latter proved very valuable to me. It was 
but few days after this, before I was off. We found 
at Augusta a vessel called " The Nantucket," a regu- 
lar packet plying between the island and the Kenne- 
beck. She was commanded by a Capt. Hause. I 
engaged a passage at once, and started immediately 
on my second voyage, which was of a very different 
character from the one when I first left home. After 
a pleasant passage of about one week, I landed upon 
the island of Nantucket, where, at all of the princi- 
pal wharves, swarms of men were busily engaged in 
fitting out whale-ships. 

By a strange concurrence of favorable circum- 
stances, I got board with an old Quakeress, Elizabeth 
Coleman. Of all the places on the island, this was 
the most agreeable to me, as it not only tallied 
with my Quaker habits and education, but Elizabeth 
almost took the place of my own mother. From 
the first she took as much interest in all my affairs 



60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

as my own parents ; and, besides having lived so long 
amid men who had followed whaling all their lives, 
she was capable of giving me some important advice. 
When on shore I made her house my home for many 
years. Through my new-found mother I procured 
an introduction to a Mr. David Joy, who was reared 
and educated in the Quaker religion. His father 
was an elder in the church. This Mr. Joy was 
engaged in the whaling business, owning some three 
or four ships and barks employed in the business 
in which I was intending to engage. Mr. Joy was 
then fitting out the bark " Peru " for a voyage to the 
South Atlantic Ocean, on board of which I shipped 
to go in pursuit of " right " whales. There are 
several species of these sea-animals (they can hardly 
be classed with the finny tribe, for their blood is 
warm) ; several species that generate, bring forth, and 
nurse their J^oung precisely as land cows do theirs. 
The right whale is short and thick, producing from 
fifty to one hundred and fifty barrels ; and some- 
times I am told that on the north-west coast they 
yield from two hundred to three hundred barrels of 
oil, of an inferior quality compared with sperm oil ; 
which latter species, that is, the sperm whale, is quite 
different in several respects ; one of which is, they are 
from two to three times longer, and proportionately 
slimmer, yielding all the way from fifteen barrels to 
one hundred, seldom more ; and then, again, they have 
but one spout-hole, which is on the end of the head, 
while the right whale has two, one-third the distance 
from the head towards the tail. Right whales con- 
gregate at certain seasons of the year in specific 



FIEST VOYAGE WHALING. 61 

localities, and are never met with elsewhere ; where- 
as sperm whales are found more plenty in some 
places than in others, yet, unlike the first, are met 
with in every latitude. Then, again, the right 
whales are found in shoal-water ; and at certain sea- 
sons they congregate in bays, where they drop their 
young ; Avhereas the sperm whale is never seen on 
soundings. There is the male and female, the same 
as are seen in a herd of domestic or wild cattle. The 
cow-whale experiences the same process of gestation 
that the domestic cow does in producing offspring. 
Their bags containing milk are constructed precisely 
as the common cow's ; the young getting nourishment 
by sucking teats, of which there are two, just as do 
the calves of the farmer's cows. The milk is white, 
and looks the same as that from cows, but has a 
strong taste. There are several other kincls, each 
species varying in habits from all others, which are 
not sought after by whalemen, and hence I do not 
deem it necessary to describe them. They are of many 
species, from the porpoise to the largest-sized whale, 
and cannot stay under water beyond a limited time 
without drowning. The sperm whale usually stays 
down an hour ere he makes his appearance, and then 
stays on the surface the same length of time, breath- 
ing ; the right whale, and most others of the whale 
species, are down from fifteen to thirty minutes, and 
upon the surface the same. 

I have given this imperfect sketch of the habits 
and characteristics of the leviathan of the deep, 
thinking it might not be uninteresting to those 
unacquainted with this department of the animal 
kingdom. 



62 ATTTOBIOGEAPHY. 

After shipping on the bark " Peru," Mr. Joy sent 
me with an order to a Mr. Sturtevant to get my out- 
fit. Of course I didn't know what I wanted for a 
voyage, airy more than any other " greenhorn ; " but 
I found in Mr. Sturtevant a willing adviser. He 
seemed so very unselfish that I took whatever he 
said was necessary. To show how unselfish were all 
his pretensions, the articles specified in his bill of a 
hundred and forty-seven, dollars could have been 
purchased at almost any place where they dealt in 
such articles, for forty-seven dollars at most, throw- 
ing off the hundred. Thus it was then, — and it is 
no better now, — that land-sharks gobbled up the 
hard earnings of the storm-tossed sailor. 

No sooner than I had got my outfit, than they 
bundled me and my traps on board the ship, then 
laying outside of the bar, where the supplies for the 
voyage were taken in. The crew of twenty-eight 
men, all told, consisted, with two exceptions, of men 
and boys belonging on the island. The two excep- 
tions were a man by the name of David Gardner, 
and myself, both hailing from the State of Maine. 
When I got on board I found every berth in the fore- 
castle occupied excepting one ; the boys knowing the 
ropes, to use a sailor phrase, after shipping, had picked 
out their berths before going on board, and, to secure 
them from the encroachment of others to come after, 
put their names on them ; and, as there was only the 
complement to accommodate the crew, it was Hob- 
son's choice — that or none — for me. It was the least 
desirable of any ; but, as I couldn't help the matter, 
I tumbled in upon my straw mattress and straw pil- 
low and bedclothes, and made the best of it. 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 63 

An amusing incident transpired after I had agreed 
to go, and while the ship was lying at her wharf 
rigging and painting, before going over the bar to 
take in her outfit. I was working on board, assisting 
the riggers. Of course before night on the first day, 
my hands became all daubed over with tar. Not 
knowing how to get it off, I asked some of the 
riggers how I should remove the sticky substance. 
Thinking they might get some sport at my expense, 
they told me to wash them in salt water. So down 
I go to the water's edge, and commence operations. 
I washed away, they eying me all the while; but 
the more I washed the less it was inclined to leave ; 
in fact, it stuck closer. I heard the roguish sailors 
break out into a coarse laugh at my stupidity. 
Instantly I saw there was a joke. I relinquished 
further endeavors in that direction, and went' home 
with my tarred hands uncleansed. Upon meeting 
Aunt Elizabeth, I asked her how I should get my 
hands clean. " La, David," she says, "get some 
slush" (meaning grease), "rub it on well, and it will 
start the tar ; then soap and soft water will do the 
rest." After this experience I never had any more 
difficulty in removing tar. 

On the day for sailing, when I arrived on board 
and by the time I had my dunnage stowed away, 
eight bells was struck, signifying noon, when all 
hands were told to get their dinners. I went into 
the forecastle with the rest, to partake of my first 
meal on shipboard. 

Our dinner consisted of salt pork and beef, pota- 
toes, and hard-tack as sailors call sea-bread ; and, 



64 AUTOBIOGEAPHY. 

although the ship was lying perfectly still, a nauseous 
stench coming up from the lower hold made such an 
impression upon my sensitive stomach that it was 
with the greatest difficulty I could force down a par- 
ticle of it. I managed to swallow a small quantity, 
and then got on deck as soon as possible. The bill 
of fare at this first meal was a sample of all on the 
entire voyage, with the exception that on Thursdays 
we were allowed either duff or rice, the former a 
flour pudding boiled in a bag, and both eaten with 
molasses, of which latter we were each allowed one 
quart per week ; and Fridays we had salt fish and 
potatoes, that is, when we had potatoes, if not, then 
salt fish. 

Before going on board I purchased a quadrant and 
other nautical instruments for determining the ship's 
position when at sea. These I put in the bottom of 
my chest. I also bought a fiddle and its accompani- 
ments, thinking if I couldn't use it some of the boys 
might, and thus while away an hour pleasantly. The 
fiddle I put in my bunk, and covered it up, thinking 
no one would see it. 

After lying at the bar some two weeks to take in 
all our outfits, we were ready for sea. 

Up to this time I had never seen our captain. He 
was a great, tall, bulky, broad-shouldered man, hair 
and beard slightly gray, prominent Roman nose, and 
great blue eyes ; upon the whole, not a very prepos- 
sessing man at first sight, but he proved to be a very 
eood man. His name was Brooks. His home was 

o 

on the west side of the island, at a place called 
Cuttyhunk, I think. The chief officer was a Mr. 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. C5 

Smith, rather large physique, pretty good looking, 
with black piercing eyes, nose aquiline ; a man of 
few words, who always meant what he said, and was 
a very efficient officer, and a good man generally. 
He had commanded several ships ; but dissipation of 
one kind or another, had caused him to fall from his 
high estate, and take a step down. He was a native 
of Nantucket, where he always made his home. 

The second officer, or second mate, was a man of 
very different characteristics from the other two. 
He was tall and slim, high cheek-bones, gray eyes, 
reddish hair and whiskers, and about thirty years 
old. His name was Albert Coffin, and he had always 
made the island his home, excepting when at sea. 
The crew were of all temperaments, many of them 
full of fun, and always playing jokes on each other. 
In general they were deficient in education, their 
schooling having been sadly neglected when young. 
After we cleared the land, the two first officers chose 
and set their watches, first one selecting a man, and 
then the other, and so on, until all hands belonged 
to one or the other's watch. The two watches are 
called starboard and larboard ; the second mate con- 
trolling the starboard, the first the larboard or port 
watch. 

The watch is set at eight, when the starboard 
watch takes the deck, and the other turns in, to be 
called at twelve. Thus it goes on as regularly as 
clockwork, four hours on, four off, or what is called 
in nautical parlance watch and watch. These rules 
are strictly adhered to the entire voj r age, excepting 
while whaling, when all hands are on duty. From 



66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

four to eight, p.m., is what is called the dog-watch, 
when all hands are spinning yarns, singing songs, or 
telling stories. Now Ave are past Gay Head, and out 
on the broad Atlantic, the wind from the north-west, 
heading to the southward and eastward. Although 
the sea wasn't very rough, I began to feel qualmish, 
and soon after to throw up. About ten o'clock, it 
being somewhat squally, Mr. Coffin began to take in 
the light sails. I heard him say something which 
was then quite unintelligible to me, but subsequently 
found it was an order to clew up the main-top- 
gallant-sail. I was as sick as death at the time. I 
heard the men hallooing something, but what it was 
I didn't comprehend. Directly Mr. Coffin bawled out 
to me, saying, " Here you d d Down-East white- 
head, come and help take in sail." I went where the 
men were hallooing, and pulling at something. I took 
hold, and did the best I could ; soon after, I heard 
the officer s&y " Belay," when they stopped their 
jargon. Then I heard him say something about doing 
something else, which also was Greek to me, and 
was followed by something about " d d white- 
head," which was not Greek, as I was the only boy 
in the crew with a " tow-head," as they sometimes 
called mine ; at least I was the only one that was thus 
called by this brutish officer, and hence I knew he 
meant me. As I was very busily engaged just then 
in giving old Neptune the remaining contents of my 
agitated stomach, I paid no attention to his gibberish. 
Directly he came to me while I was leaning over the 
lee-rail, sick as death, and, taking hold of my shoul- 
ders, roughly whirled me suddenly round, dragged me 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 67 

to the weather main rigging, saying, " Go up there 

and help furl that niain-top-gallant-sail, and be d d 

to you; " accompanying the last word with his foot 
deposited in my rear and about the middle of my 
sick body. What he meant by top-gallant-sail I 
had not the least conception ; and as for going up, I 
didn't know where, that dark night, expecting to do 
any thing, sick as I was, I couldn't think of it ; but 
after his swearing and kicking, being too sick to resist, 
I managed to get into the rigging, and after a while, 
by dint of great effort, succeeded in getting up to 
what is called the main-top ; and as I didn't there 
see any thing to do, nor anybody to help, and being 
ignorant how much higher I would have to go before 
I got where the man was bawling out for help, and 
the officer swearing and cursing to expedite my 
movements, and as I couldn't get up through the 
lubber-hole, I concluded that further efforts in 
" getting up stairs " were useless. As for going out 
over the top with the ship rolling and tumbling fear- 
fully, that was entirely out of the question. I con- 
cluded to remain where I was. When subsequently 
I was about retracing my steps downwards, still 
hanging with my arm around the futtock shrouds, 
throwing up evevj moment or two, for, being so high 
up, the motion of the ship made me still sicker than 
when on deck, and while taking in the true position 
of affairs the best I could, I felt some sharp-pointed 
instrument pierce the posterior portion of my hips. 
I instantly hauled off one foot, and "let go." The 
pricking proved to be the work of the officer of the 
deck, Mr. Coffin. I had on a pair of new cowhide 



68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

boots ; and, when I felt I had come in contact with 
something, I used one of them. After he had re- 
ceived my boot-heel he retreated down, and I fol- 
lowed him. My kick accomplished a good job, as it 
peeled the skin off his left eye, nose, and under-lip, 
making a fearful disfigurement of his ugly phiz. I 
neither heard nor saw any one, but made my way 
deckward as fast as I could with safety, and landed 
soon after my tormentor. I was told afterwards, 
that seeing me hanging in the cat-harpings, as the 
short shrouds leading from the mast to the rim of 
the top are called, and after bawling and swearing to 
the top of his lungs, and I not heeding it, he took out 
of a pigeon-hole in the binnacle what sailmakers call 
a marling-needle, some six inches long. It was this 
sharp-pointed instrument that raised my boot in self- 
defence ; the result of which he carried to his grave. 
The fact was, he was a coward ; and, although he 
never attempted any thing of the kind afterwards 
openly, yet he used his influence against me in every 
possible way, at least for the next five months : then a 
change occurred which brought his real character to 
the surface. After I came down, he sent another 
man up. The next morning while I was at the wheel 
learning to steer, the old man (the captain of a ship 
is always designated the "old man ") came on deck, 
and, seeing Mr. Coffin's patched-up face, asked him 
how he did it. Mr. Coffin told him that " he run 
afoul of an overhead boat in the night." He being a 
tall man, and the boats having not yet been secured on 
chocks, which would put them out of the reach of a 
man's head, the story seemed plausible, and nothing 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 69 

further was said about it. When I got forward I 
told the facts to old Jack, an old sailor who had 
taken me under his charge. He says, " You done 
just right, but he'll work up your old iron for it 
before you get home." And he did so. Whenever 
a shovel was to be used after the hogs or hens, I was 
always ordered to do it. Without the least provoca- 
tion, I being entirely ignorant of having done amiss, 
he would stop my watch below in the daytime, pre- 
tending to the captain that I had done something 
punishable, or had not done my duty. When on my 
regular watch he would keep me constantly at some 
menial work, such as scraping and slushing down 
topmasts ; which pleased the men in the forecastle, as 
they, too, tried to make me a scapegoat for all sorts 
of funny jokes, and some not so funny, they- taking 
their cue from Mr. Coffin. This was my first expe- 
rience in roughing it on shipboard, but not the last 
by aii3 r means, as the sequel will tell. 

In the course of a week I got partially over my 
sickness, and began to regulate things in my chest 
and bunk. When I looked for my fiddle, it was no- 
where to be found ; at last I found it on some soap 
kegs, with the strings gone, a hole burst in the top, 
and the fiddle filled with what is called salt-water 
soap, or soap by which clothes can be washed in salt 
water as easily as with common soap in fresh water. 
Somehow or other the men took a dislike to me in 
the first place, although I tried eve.^y possible way 
to please them. I tried to be as near like them as I 
could, using the slang phrases they did, and joining 
them in all their boyish, roguish sports ; but, do all I 



70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

could, it availed me nothing : they were bound to have 
some one to ventilate their hectoring spleen upon; 
and as I had incurred the displeasure of the second 
officer, with whom they were well acquainted be- 
fore leaving home, and as apparently my principles 
were non-resistant, they thought me a fit subject 
for their sport. To begin with, they broke up my 
fiddle. It is a saying among such a gang, that there 
is always a fool in a company of that kind ; and they 
hit upon me for the fool. I, in turn, was decidedly 
opposed to their selection. They did every thing 
possible to annoy me ; and, the more I tolerated their 
insults, the more they tried to plague me ; at last, 
finding all my efforts for peace useless, I told them 
that I had stood all that I conveniently could, and 
that, if they persisted in their annoying habits, I 
should certainly take my own part. This warning, 
threat, or challenge only brought down the house 
with laughter, and immediately they began whisper- 
ing among themselves. My coolness somewhat daunt- 
ed their ardor ; but as there were so many of them, 
indirectly backed up, too,* by Mr. Coffin, they finally 
concluded to try my mettle. So one night in the dog- 
watch, soon after my threat, and while I was writing, 
by a preconcerted plan, one of the number, when 
the ship lurched to leeward, came tumbling down 
upon me, tipping over my inkstand, he pretending 
that the lurching of the ship was the cause. I knew 
he lied, but quietly told him not to do it again. De- 
termined to test my prowess, another convenient 
lurch of the ship gave the same fellow an excuse for 
doing the same thing again, which produced a tre- 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 71 

mendous laugh and clapping of hands ; but, before 
the gang had proceeded far in their mirth, I had the 
fellow on the deck punishing him liberally. At 
first no one interfered ; but, finding their chum was 
getting the worst of it, they came to his rescue : 
after I had punished him sufficiently, I let him up, 
wilh the claret running from his mouth and nose. 
At once the news was carried aft, and I was hauled 
up to answer for fighting. After a few inquiries by 
the captain, I was told to go forward. They didn't 
give me any more serious annoyance, excepting 
laughing and making fun of me, until we had left 
the Western Islands, where we were to recruit with 
fresh supplies and men, and where I determined to 
run away if possible. They tried in various ways 
to annoy me; but, finding that their methods, failed 
to frighten me into submission, they thought of a 
new plot. One dark night, when the ship was lying 
to in a gale of wind, one of them thought that I 
might be frightened through playing the ghost ; and 
he donned a white sheet for the purpose. He came 
on deck stealthily, and took up a position on the 
bowsprit, between the knight-heads, enveloped in 
the white sheet from head to foot, and commenced 
groaning in a sepulchral tone, loud enough for me 
to hear ; which must have cost his lungs an extra 
effort, as the wind was howling fearfully, the rigging 
rattling, and the timbers groaning. I turned my 
eyes towards where I heard the sound, and perceived 
the apparition, but thought, the moment I saw it, 
that it was one of the roguish scamps in the fore- 
castle trying to frighten me. I almost knew it was 



72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Bill Fitzgerald, whom it proved to be. The instant 
he saw that I perceived him, he came slowly down 
the heel of the bowsprit towards me, groaning all 
the while. I grasped a handspike, and stood up 
facing him, determined to give his ghostship a warm 
reception when within reach. He perceived the 
manoeuvre, and halted about eight or ten feet from 
me, groaning still ; but, as I hauled off ready to let 
go, he cut and run down into the forecastle. I let 
fly the handspike, which reached the bottom of the 
stairs before he did, doing no other injury than hurt- 
ing his foot and shin so much as to lay him up a few 
days. Directly I heard a tremendous uproar below, 
where the boys were laughing and jeering the poor 
ghost, he being the only one frightened ; and he came 
near being disabled for the rest of the voyage. After 
this failure they never attempted to spring any more 
jokes upon me. 

By their actions, one would infer their opinion 
that I felt myself superior to them, which, as far as 
scholastic education was concerned, was true ; but 
which I tried hard, as before stated, to avert. After 
a passage of a couple of weeks, we came in sight of 
the island of Flores, one of the Western Islands so- 
called, situated midway between America and the 
Continent of Europe, where we were to make up 
our complement of men from the natives, and pur- 
chase potatoes, onions, chickens, and pigs. On the 
passage out we fell in with numerous schools of 
black-fish, one of the whale species, which yield 
from one to five and sometimes more barrels of oil, 
according to size. We improved every opportunity 



FIEST VOYAGE WHALING. 73 

to catch them, partly for the oil, and partly to teach 
us greenhorns the different evolutions in a whale- 
boat when killing whales. We secured several bar- 
rels of this oil, with which the captain intended to 
pay for his supplies. We made the island early one 
morning ; and when near enough, the old man had 
his boat lowered, and a barrel of oil put in. I be- 
longed to his boat, and of course I had opportunities 
of going ashore, getting a look at the natives, and 
deciding from my own observation whether it would 
be feasible to put into practice my determination to 
run away. 

As there were no piers or wharves, or safe anchor- 
age, the only alternative was to lay off and on for 
the two days and nights that we should be occupied 
in getting our recruits aboard. We landed in a 
small bay near which the little Portuguese town was 
located. After hauling the boat up, the oil was 
deposited near the head of the boat. By this time a 
large crowd of men and women of all ages had 
gathered about us, ready to barter off their commod- 
ities for oil. After conversing a few minutes with 
some of the principal natives, the captain selected 
me for peddling out the oil ; another lad was detailed 
to watch the natives, and prevent them from stealing 
things out of the boat. I was to give one pint of 
oil for a pair of chickens, and one quart for a pig. 
The potatoes, onions, &c, the old man was going to 
purchase up town. As soon as I got fairly under way 
in my new occupation, and somewhat used to the 
outlandish gibberish of the natives, the captain left 
us. No sooner was he out of sight than my assist- 



74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

ant left also ; and, as the beach was lined with 
natives, I was obliged to execute the trading and 
watching too* which I could not do without neg- 
lecting one or the other. However, after waiting a 
long time for the return of my companion, I went 
ahead making my purchases. As I bought a brace 
of chickens, or a pig, I would throw them into the 
boat, and was doing, I thought, quite a flourishing 
business. I kept on until my barrel of oil was nearly 
exhausted, when the old man made his appearance. 
Coming up to where I was dealing out the oil, he 
asked me how many I had bought. I answered, " A 
good many." " Where are they ?" he continued. 
I said, "In the boat." He says, "I can't see them;" 
and, to my astonishment, neither could I. The na- 
tives, as soon as I put my purchases in the boat, 
would steal them, and sell them over again ; so that 
when I thought I had at least three or four dozen 
pairs of chickens, and some half-dozen pigs, only 
three pairs of chickens and one pig could be found. 
My chagrin and astonishment defy description. Now, 
thought I, the boys will have something tangible to 
taunt me with ; besides, I supposed I had incurred 
the displeasure of the captain. I expected that he 
would give me a blowing-up, if nothing more. But 
he said nothing to me then, for he saw how the thing 
was brought about. Of course I told him of my 
assistant leaving me as soon as he was out of sight, 
and that he hadn't yet returned. We finished out 
the rest of the oil, and got in some things he had 
purchased up town ; and after the men had returned 
we pushed off. The captain scolded the one he left 



FIBST VOYAGE WHALING. 75 

with me, whom, being his neighbor's son, he let off 
easily. As I expected, the boys began their " digs " 
at me by asking one another, in a suppressed tone, 
w r hile rowing towards the ship, " How much is 
chickens worth ? " &c. ; then would follow a low 
chuckle. Once in a while I would hear them say, 
u He'll catch it when he gets on board." Whether 
they meant the old man would punish me, or they 
tantalize me, I did not know ; but after getting on 
deck they told the news of my day's financiering, 
and had a merry time over my " smartness " as they 
called it ; and until late in the night the roguish 
scamps were buying and selling poultry and pigs. 
It was genuinely ludicrous to hear the sallies of wit 
they exhibited in trying to annoy me. I enjoyed 
their merriment. This day's operation, added to my 
experience previously, fully decided me to run away 
if I got ashore on the morrow. My bad luck this 
day might induce the captain to take another in my 
place ; that was the only drawback to my hopes. 

After breakfast .the next morning, I heard the 
mate say, " Clear away the starboard boat," which 
was the same that went ashore yesterday, and to 
which I belonged. When she was hauled along to 
the gangway, and the oil, two barrels, put in, the 
crew was told to get in, and I found my place pretty 
quick. Anticipating a chance for leaving the ship, 
I had put on two pairs of pants, three shirts, two 
pairs of socks, also vest and jacket. We landed 
at the same place as yesterday, and to my utter 
astonishment I was intrusted with peddling out 
the oil again. This dampened my hopes of getting 



76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

away. The captain selected a trustworthy fellow 
this time, to stay with me, and charged him not to 
leave a moment on any account. I said to myself, 
" What shall I do ? " and was thinking, while trading, 
how I could manage to get away unobserved. After 
thinking it over and over again, I hit upon a plan 
which I thought might work. I said to the man 
who was watching the boat, that I must go away 
for a few moments, and asked him to watch the oil 
as well as the boat. No sooner was I out of sigfht 
of him than I put for the interior. I was fearful of 
running afoul of the old man : so I kept a good look- 
out for him, trusting to luck to get out of it if 
I should meet him. I travelled a long way, as I 
thought. At last I came to where some boys were 
playing marbles, and halted, watching the game ; 
they all the time were chattering in a language ut- 
terly unintelligible to me. To the right of the boys, 
from where I stood, I noticed an old woman stand- 
ing in the doorway of her house. As soon as she 
perceived I was looking towards her, she beckoned 
me with her hand towards her, saying at the same 
time, " Entree, entree" which signifies in English, as I 
learned afterwards, " Come in." As I didn't make any 
signs of compliance, she came towards me, jabbering 
over something. After getting to where I was stand- 
ing, she gently pulled my sleeve, and, leading me on, 
started for the house. After getting there she said 
over the word "Entree" pointing inside the house. 
I reluctantly entered, not knowing what sort of a 
place I was getting into. She almost compelled me 
to take a cup of coffee, and offered me some wine 



to 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 77 

which I refused. However I felt comparatively 
easy : the old lady and her two daughters — as I 
took two young ladies to be who were in the 
house when I entered — did all they could to make 
me feel so. After I had been there a short time, she 
said something to the girls, who started off, and were 
gone but a short time, when they returned with two 
chickens, " galenas" as they called them. They 
asked me by signs what I called them : upon being 
told, they seemed to be satisfied. * They tried a good 
many times to speak the word " chicken " after me, 
but failed to give it the right sound ; and, amid laugh- 
ter at their and my attempts to speak each other's 
language, they went somewhere to prepare dinner. 
In due time they came to me, saying, as near as I 
can spell the words they used, u Este umbre camis 
munge ? " which I rendered as meaning in English, 
" Are you hungry ? " I followed them, and found a 
nice dinner steaming hot ; and, it being the first time 
I had seen any thing like a good meal since I left 
Aunt Elizabeth's house, I enjoj^ed it hugely. After 
dinner was disposed of, we entertained each other in 
teaching one another the names of things in each 
other's language. Thus time passed until ten o'clock, 
when they assigned me a hammock to sleep in. By 
this time I had got quite domesticated, and felt en- 
tirely at my ease. I remember, after I got into my 
hammock, of saying to myself, " By morning the old 
1 Peru ' will be out of sight," and wondered what they 
would do with my things. After the day's excite- 
ment, with no sleep the night before, I was soon sound 
sleep, and did not wake up until I heard some one 



78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

saying, " Umbra, umbra" meaning " man." At first 
I felt bewildered, forgetting for the moment where I 
was ; but, Memory unrolling her scroll, I read the 
doings of the day before. We got our breakfast, and 
spent subsequent time much the same as yesterday. 

Just before dinner was ready, while lazily loun- 
ging in the hammock, one of the girls swinging it, all 
hands laughing at each other's blunders in trying to 
speak in a strange language, and enjoying ourselves 
in the pleasantest possible way, and when I thought 
that the ship was two hundred or more miles away, 
who should darken the doorway but Capt. Brooks ! 
If the earth had opened, and I knew I was to sink 
into its yawning cavern, I could not have felt worse. 
Language baffles a description of my feelings at this 
moment. After eying me a while, still standing in 
the doorway, he says, "I have found you at last, you 
young rascal : here you have kept the ship waiting for 
a whole dajV Hearing him talking so loud, and I 
looking so pallid, the old lady came forward jabbering 
in the most piteous tones, seeming to ask what was 
the matter. Her anxious look, to know what was up, 
set me weeping ; and this set the two girls crying ; 
and taken altogether it was quite a scene. At last 
the old man, being familiar wdth their language, told 
them, in their own vernacular, that I was a runaway 
from his ship. After seeing the true state of the case, 
the old lady interceded in my behalf, and begged him 
to let me stay with them, which of course was entirely 
useless. He didn't talk hard to me, as I had a right 
to expect, but, on the contrary, was very sociable, and 
seemed not to take advantage of our different posi- 



FIBST VOYAGE WHALING. 79 

tions. He kept on talking with the good old lady ; 
her daughters, one on each side of the hammock, 
trying to talk with me. We all took dinner together, 
the captain as courteous and affable as though noth- 
ing unusual had taken place. When we came to take 
our leave, there was another scene ; the old lady and 
her beautiful daughters crying as though their hearts 
would break. The old lady and her girls kissed me 
over and over again. When finally we got away, the 
old man was much affected, although he tried to 
keep it to himself. We soon arrived where the boat 
was waiting to take us on board. Thus ends my 
first and only attempt at running away. 

The boys in the boat kept telling one another, 
while rowing towards the ship, " He'll get a flogging 
wdien he gets aboard;" but the captain never, alluded 
to it in my presence. Not so with the crew : they 
kept it up awhile, as also the trading business ; but, 
finding I cared nothing for it, at last it died out of 
itself. There was one consolation I had, — that they 
didn't dare to touch me, as they found out I was 
fully able to take care of myself. 

I am thus particular in relating this incident ; for 
it may indicate that my friends in the summer land 
influenced the captain to hunt me up, also show the 
difficulties one has to contend with in climbing the 
ladders of promotion and progression, where seem- 
ingly every circumstance favorable to success is cut 
off, and that, if we only knew that such aid was 
always near at hand, what strength it would give us 
in the arduous duties of life ! 

Nothing further worths of note occurred to 



80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

break the every-day monotony of a whaleship 
making a passage, until we arrived on "whaling 
ground." This is located in latitude from thirty- 
eight to forty-two degrees south, between Cape 
Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, rather nearer 
the latter. The customary routine of a whaleship 
when on cruising ground, is, after cruising all day, 
with a lookout at each masthead for whales, to take 
in all the light sails, jib and mainsail, and double- 
reef the topsails, at sunset, and, if the captain wishes 
to keep in the vicinity, leave orders to wear ship at 
a certain time. The watches correspond in number 
to the boats a ship carries. Ours was a three-boat 
ship ; that is, we could man three boats : con- 
sequently we had three watches. The night is 
divided into three equal parts; each boat's crew 
takes its watch the allotted time, whose boatsteerer 
is the officer of the deck for the same time. None 
of the mates stand watch after arriving on whaling 
ground. 

We were nearly three months out before we saw 
the first right whale, the kind we were after. After 
breakfast one morning the lookout sung out, " There 
she blows ! " Learning the direction of whereabouts, 
the captain mounted up the main-yard, and after 
using his glass pronounced them right whales. He 
immediately gave orders to put the "tubs" in the 
boats; that is, the tubs in which three hundred 
fathoms of towline is coiled, and which are never 
allowed to remain in the boats when on the u cranes " 
upon which the boats usually rest. As soon as the 
whales were visible off deck, the main-yard laid 



EHtST VOYAGE WHALING. 81 

aback to stop the ship's headway, and all things 
ready, the " old man " sung out, " Lower away the 
boats." The crews were soon in their places, each 
one having a particular oar designated for him to 
pull, to avoid confusion, mine being the tub-oar. 
While we were getting the boats down, the whales 
turned flukes, as whalemen say when they go down. 
We pulled to where they were last seen, and peaked 
our oars. As this kind of whale usually stops under 
water some half-hour, we had some time to wait for 
their re-appearance ; the captain standing upon the 
stern sheets, while the boatsteerer was doing the 
same thing on the bow of the boat, both looking out 
for them. While this was going on I was cogitating 
in my mind what a whale looked like, how big his 
eyes were ; for I imagined that, if they were pro- 
portioned like other animals, their eyes must be as 
large as a good-sized cart-wheel. While thinking of 
this and other things, the captain jumped down into 
the boat, and seized the steering oar, saying in a sup- 
pressed tone, " Pull three, and stern two," meaning 
to pull ahead on the three-oared side, and back-water 
on the other or two-oared side ; by doing which the 
boat would swing almost square round, without 
going ahead. I looked in every direction, my eyes 
as big as demijohns. Directly I heard a roaring 
sound. The whale had come up, and the sound I 
heard was the noise he made in spouting. The old 
man had seen him under water, when he gave the 
above order about pulling three and backing two, 
which manoeuvre brought the head of the boat 
towards him, and when he broke water he was 



82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

within striking distance ; and the boatsteerer let fly 
first one harpoon and then the other. Then came 
the order, " Stern all," meaning, back-water with all 
the oars. The whale making his appearance so 
unexpectedly, and so near us, we, that is the green- 
horns, got confused, at least I did; for I didn't know 
whether I was on my head or heels, and never knew 
whether I pulled ahead, or backed-water, or whether 
I did either. Now came the killing process. The 
whale was a large one, and seemed decidedly opposed 
to being interfered with in that unceremonious man- 
ner. He kicked and thrashed round furiously. 
While he was thrashing round, trying to get clear, 
the captain and boatsteerer changed places. The 
officer of a boat always does the killing ; the boat- 
steerer and crew keeping themselves ready to exe- 
cute any order the officer may give. Soon after we 
were " fast," the second mate came up, and got in 
two harpoons more, " irons " as they are called by 
whalemen. This second indignity to his whaleship 
exasperated the monster still more. Finding he 
couldn't get clear by kicking with his enormous 
flukes, or tail, he commenced running to windward 
at a furious rate, dragging the two boats after him. 
To stop this fun, they carry sharp spades in each 
boat, attached to small lines. With these, when 
brought near enough by hauling on the line, and 
watching a favorable opportunity, they cut the sinews 
of his tail, which lies horizontally, and when going 
ahead it is always waving up and down. When 
the extremity of the tail is down, of course the 
muscles and sinews are taut on top ; this is the 



FIPvST VOYAGE WHALING. 83 

time selected to use the spade. When these muscles 
and sinews are seriously damaged they lose their 
propelling power, and of course are compelled to 
stop propulsion ; then the officer uses his lance, a 
long slim shank, with a round steel head made very 
sharp ; with this they pierce the vitals, which sets 
the whales to bleeding. Nearly an hour elapses 
before they turn up, as whalemen say when the 
whale is dead. Our whale was soon checked in his 
running-away propensity, — quite as suddenly as I 
was at Flores. In a shorter time than it takes to 
write this paragraph, Mr. Whale was spouting blood ; 
and in thirty minutes more he was a lifeless mass of 
bones, muscles, and blubber. After he was spouting 
blood, the old man cut off his line near to the 
harpoon, and went on board to get whale alongside. 
'After our boat was on her cranes, we soon had the 
monster secured alongside the ship. After the other 
boats were taken up, all hands got dinner. Thus I 
had witnessed and participated in the capture of 
the first whale I ever saw. 

After dinner was over, we commenced cutting him 
in, that is to say, getting the blubber off his body 
and into a room between decks, prepared for the 
purpose, called the blubber-room. By dark we had 
his hide off, and his head in on deck : out of the 
latter comes all the whalebone for umbrella-sticks, 
ladies' corsets, and a hundred other uses. Now, then, 
comes the process of extracting oil from the blubber, 
or boiling-out process. The man in the blubber- 
room cuts up, with a spade adapted to the purpose, 
the great blanket-pieces, that is, the strips of blubber 



84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

taken off the body, about three feet wide, and fifteen 
to twenty feet long, called blanket-pieces ; these he 
cuts into small pieces, which are called horse-pieces ; 
these latter are again sliced up into one-half-inch 
slices, by a long, wide, thin-bladed knife, with a 
handle on each end, and very sharp ; this is called a 
mincing-knife, and is used by the mincer, whose duty 
I was selected to perform in my watch. The blub- 
ber varies from fifteen to six inches in thickness. 
At the end of the second day, the product of the 
whale, eighty -five barrels, was in large casks ready 
for stowing down. The oil is tried out from the 
scraps ; a wood-fire for the first kettle-full, after 
that scraps are the fuel. Before we had a chance to 
stow down our first oil, we got another whale, and 
kept doing so, with varying success, until we made 
up our voyage, and started for home ; where we 
arrived the following June, safe, sound, and I very 
much improved in bodily strength, my muscles 
rounded out and hard ; in fact, I had changed from 
a sickly-looking stripling to a full-grown, healthy 
man. 

The captain had sent letters home, in which he 
extolled me highly, and wanted the owners to secure 
me as third mate of the ship the next voyage ; that 
is, if he went in her again. This I was ignorant 
of. When we anchored outside the bar, and before 
we had got the sails furled, a boat came alongside 
in which was the owner, Mr. Joy ; the moment he 
landed on deck he inquired for me, and at once 
offered me the third mate's berth the next voyage, 
and was anxious for me to accept, as he said Capt. 



FIRST VOYAGE WHALING. 85 

Brooks had recommended me very highly ; and, as he 
was going in her again, he wanted me in that capa- 
city. I was astonished at his recommendation, as I 
had caused him no little trouble by attempting to run 
away, and very considerable exercise of patience on 
account of my troubles with the men. Ascertaining 
that Mr. Coffin, our second mate on the voyage just 
ended, was going chief officer, and a brother of the 
captain as second mate, and also that I could go 
home before the ship would be ready, I agreed to go. 
When it was found out that I had been lifted over the 
heads of all the island boys by promotion, there was 
no little grumbling among them ; but no one was to 
blame but themselves. Their attempts at bullying 
me often brought me in contact with the captain, 
who was not blind as to who was really at fault in 
all our differences on the voyage. 

After settling up the voyage with the owners, I 
had something over one hundred dollars to carry 
home to father. My ambition then was great to 
assist him in clearing off a mortgage on the farm. 
I took passage for home in the same vessel that 
brought me to the island one year before. After 
a passage of four days, I found myself at Augusta, 
from where I engaged a ride home with a neighbor 
who lived not a mile from the home of my youth. 
Our family had all retired to bed before I got to the 
house. The old house-dog was the first to welcome 
me ; and, when I knocked, I thought he would suffo- 
cate me with his caresses. In response to my knock, 
mother inquired, " Who is there?" I said, " Come 
and see." In a moment the news spread through the 



86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

house like an electric shock, that David had come : 
in another moment my brothers and sisters came 
tumbling down stairs, and into the front room, where 
mother and old Rover were trying their best to see 
who could express the most feeling. Such a recep- 
tion, such hugging and caressing, no poor mortal 
ever had to endure before. All told there were eigh- 
teen of us, eleven boys and five girls, besides father 
and mother ; each and all vieing with each other to 
see who could express the most affection. 

Thus ends another important event of my life, 
in which I had experienced much that tended to 
develop and bring to the surface many latent forces 
and propensities, which might otherwise have lain 
dormant and useless. 

I love to go back at this late day, and live over 
again some happy halcyon days of my youth, and 
forget for the moment the troubles and cares of the 
past and present. It makes me feel young and vigor- 
ous again, and gives me courage still to endure with 
added serenity the struggles incident to one, the 
larger part of whose vital sands have already run to 
the bottom of life's hour-glass. 



CHAPTER V. 

SECOND VOYAGE "WHALING. 

After passing two happy months in visiting 
friends and relatives, always accompanied by some 
loving member of our family, my furlough expired, 
and I commenced preparations for a second voyage. 
I induced my brother Henry to accompany me, and 
try the realities of whaling. Getting away from 
home this time was not so hard as heretofore,, partly 
because I had my brother for a companion, and partly 
because I had got somewhat used to it. We took 
passage in the same packet that took me away from 
home on my first voyage, and after due time landed 
on the island of Nantucket. I introduced my brother 
to the owner of the ship, who seemed well pleased 
to add his name to the shipping articles. 

After getting our outfit, we went on board the 
ship (which was laying outside of the bar, taking in 
her supplies), to commence the practical realities and 
active duties that would end only with the voyage. 

The ship was fitted out this time for two and a 
half years. Our instructions were, that after the 
right-whale season was over we should go into 
Delagoa Bay (on the east coast of Africa, where the 
whales resort to rear their young), and whale there 

87 



88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

through the season ; then cruise in the Mozambique 
Channel and up the Red Sea for sperm whales, until 
the season for right whaling came round again. 

The ship being ready, we sailed the 4th of July, 
1832, under very different auspices than on my first 
voyage. Nothing of importance transpired on the 
passage to the Western Islands. We were devoted to 
the common routine of every-day life on shipboard, 
and the taking of several black-fish, with the pro- 
ceeds of which we were to recruit ship. We called 
at the same island as on the voyage before, but I was 
feeling altogether different than when I landed there 
the previous year. We filled up our complement of 
men from the natives, and laid in an ample stock of 
vegetables, pigs, and poultry, and proceeded on our 
voyage to the south. 

While we were taking in our supplies at the island, 
I got liberty to spend a day and night with my 
friends whom I found there the year before. They 
seemed as much pleased to see me as if I had been 
a son and brother, returning after a long absence ; 
and when I left the next clay, all three, mother and 
two daughters, accompanied me to the boat. The 
final parting came at last, the boat's crew witnessing 
their caresses and tears. They watched us until an 
intervening promontory hid them from my view for- 
ever ; I have never since had the pleasure of visiting 
their island home. 

I have always looked back to this little event of 
my early history with the greatest possible pleasure. 
It seems like an oasis in the desert of life, giving 
momentary rest to the weary traveller, and sweet 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 89 

hopes for the future. After we got on board, we 
shaped our course for the Cape de Verd Islands, 
where we could leave letters to be forwarded home 
by the American consul. When these islands passed 
out of sight, we saw no more land for nine months 
* and ten days. We had a fair passage to our regular 
whaling ground, where, having procured a fair por- 
tion of oil, and the season being up, we started for 
St. Augustine Bay, on the Island of Madagascar, 
situated in the Indian Ocean, some two hundred 
miles from the east coast of Africa, in latitude about 
twenty-four degrees south ; that is, the Bay of St. 
Augustine, at the head of which is situated a town 
of the same name, where the officers and men were 
to recuperate health and strength, all of whom had 
become more or less debilitated by long continuance 
at sea. The body of water between this island 
and the mainland is called Mozambique Channel. 
About midway of the island, on the west side, is sit- 
uated the harbor and anchorage of the little thinly 
settled town referred to above. Into this bay, after 
a long passage from our whaling ground, we effected 
an entrance. 

The crew, to a man, were down with the scurvy, 
a loathsome disease, brought on by long exposure at 
sea, and eating salt junk, as sailors call salt beef and 
pork. We were aware that we had the disease, but 
did not know to what extent, until we got in under 
the land : when the land-breeze came off, many were 
taken down sick, some worse than others. We had 
our anchors ready to drop before we got a scent of 
the land-breeze ; else I think we should have been 



90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

too weak to have got up the chains, and shacked 
them to the anchors. We anchored near the shore, 
but, on account of our debility, were unable to furl 
the sails until the next morning, when we managed 
to roll them up. We were then sent ashore, to wal- 
low in the dirt and sand, this being the best attain- 
able remedy for this terrible malady. We laid here 
eight weeks before we got our wood, water, and 
outfit on board for another cruise. Here first I 
came in contact with royalty. The day after we 
anchored, the king and queen, who ruled in this part 
of the island, with some half-dozen princes and 
princesses, made us a formal visit. They came on 
board with all the " pomp and circumstance " of the 
most favored potentate of any European court ; and, 
although as black as coal-tar, they put on more airs, 
and assumed more importance, than any white royal 
pair I ever read about. They had straight glossy 
hair, regular features, nose aquiline, well-formed 
chin and mouth, with not a symptom of the African 
race about them, with the single exception of the 
color of their skins. As a Avhole, they had more 
regular features and were better looking than the 
average white man ; more especially the women, who, 
if they had a white instead of a black skin, would 
have been looked upon as models of beauty. 

The inhabitants were very kind and hospitable 
to strangers, and confiding and affectionate among 
themselves. By a royal mandate issued in this part 
of the island, all the men, after they arrive at the 
age of twenty years, carry a long lance made of 
" iron-wood," about an inch through, with a spear 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 91 

on the end, so as to be ready at all times to repel 
inhabitants of other parts of the island, who are 
ruled by other despots, of which there are several : 
thus all males are constituted into a standing army, to 
be ever ready to respond to the call of their sovereign. 

The royal pair, with their retinue, remained on 
board all night. I gave up my state-room to two 
of the princesses, and camped down on deck. The 
next morning, after partaking of a bountiful break- 
fast, and after accepting presents of calico, ribbons, 
beads, &c, from the captain, they went ashore, ob- 
serving the same ceremony as when they came on 
board. They were received, on landing from the 
royal barge (merely a large canoe), with all the pomp 
and ceremony that the most favored sovereign could 
wish for. The royal pair passed through long lines 
of their sable subjects ; everybody, large and small, 
giving demonstration that their loyalty was unadul- 
terated with any party politics, that their love and 
respect knew no bounds, and that their only desire 
was to do any thing and every thing to enhance the 
happiness and well-being of their august majesties. 

The day before we went to sea, an incident trans- 
pired in my personal experience which was of such 
thrilling character that I think I will give it in detail. 
I wish I could never recall it ; for it thrills me w r ith 
sensations impossible to describe. On some accounts, 
I would gladly pass over its details ; but, having un- 
dertaken to furnish the marvels of my experience, I 
will not shrink from going back and living over 
again these experiences as they follow one another 
through the ever-varying scenes of life. 



92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

It was this : The captain requested me to take one 
of the men, go ashore, and get some " iron-poles," 
that is, poles on which harpoons are fitted. They 
are about six feet long, and the size of a man's wrist. 
I selected a man by the name of Jim Winslow, a 
boat-steerer. We took the boat up a small creek, a 
dozen rods or so, and fastened her to a tree. We 
then went up into the woods looking for trees of the 
right size for our purpose. Jim moved off, diver- 
ging from my left ; and, when we had got fifteen or 
twenty rods from our boat, I came to a small tree 
about eight inches through, leaning over at an angle 
of forty degrees or so. Around this tree I noticed 
something circling, the circles being about eighteen 
inches apart. I had often seen, in forests, vines as 
large as a man's arm, wound round large trees, of a 
yellowish color, with white spots as large as a thumb- 
nail ; and, as this looked like those, I thought nothing 
of it until I had got within five or six feet of the tree, 
when I happened to look higher, and perceived that 
what I had called a vine grew larger the higher up 
it went ; this excited my curiosity, and my eye fol- 
lowed the coils all the way up : and what I took for a 
vine proved to be an enormous anaconda. About 
six feet of the upper end was stretched straight out 
from the tree, directly over where I was standing. 
It seemed to be anxiously looking in the distance. 
The thickest part of the body I should think was at 
least six inches through ; the end, where it joined on 
to the enormous head, was not larger than the thick 
part of a man's arm ; the head seemed to be over a 
foot across it, in shape like any other serpent's. I 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 93 

didn't stop long in that vicinity, but started for the 
boat, with all the speed a frightened man could mus- 
ter, hallooing as I ran, " Run, Jim, run, Jim ! " Jim 
thought I had seen some wild animal, as the natives 
said the woods were full of them : he ran for dear 
life, trying to catch up with me. We both jumped 
into the boat, shoved off, paddled down the creek and 
out into the bay with all our might, neither speaking 
a word. When I thought we were out of danger I 
stopped paddling, and told Jim what I had seen. 
After I had got through, Jim said, if he had been 
where I was, or even had known the cause of my 
sudden retreat, he could not have moved out of his 
tracks. 

The snake could not have been less than sixty or 
seventy feet long, judging from the lengthy of the 
tree he was circling. No inducement could tempt 
me to go ashore again, nor any one else out of that 
ship's crew. I asked some natives who were on 
board, if any such monster had ever been seen there 
before. They said there was one seen about a month 
ago ; but, as it hadn't been seen since, they were in 
hopes it had left altogether. They seemed very 
much frightened, and told such extravagant stories 
about the size of some of the monsters that had been 
seen in that vicinity, that my snake was a mere child 
compared to theirs. They said one was seen more 
than a foot through, and longer than the ship. At 
all events, I desire never to witness such a sight 
again ; and even now, when any thing occurs to bring 
that monster to mind, cold chills run through my 
body from head to foot. 



94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The next day we went to sea, and shaped our 
course for Delagoa Bay on the east coast of Africa, in 
latitude about 24° south. Thus ends our Augustine 
visit. 

A week subsequent to leaving our last port, we 
entered the bay referred to, where we were to re- 
main the entire whaling season, some three months. 
The entrance to the bay is through a narrow channel 
from one-eighth to one-fourh of a mile in width : we 
had considerable difficulty in finding it by sounding 
in a boat. To the north of the channel there is a 
dangerous coral reef, extending some ten miles, sub- 
merged only at high water ; to the southward is 
another extending some five miles. The bay is 
seventeen miles deep and about eight in width. We 
found two whale-ships already anchored, one French 
and the other English, both waiting for whales to 
make their appearance. We selected a place for 
anchoring, at the southward of the other ships, and 
nearer in shore. We then sent down top-gallant 
yards and masts, and double-reefed the topsails, 
ready to meet a so' wester, if one should put in an 
appearance, which is not an uncommon event at that 
season of the year. While one lasts, the wind seems 
more like a tornado than a common gale, tearing up 
and demolishing every thing in its path. To meet 
an emergency of this kind, we used the above pre- 
cautions ; also we reefed the fore and main sails, 
bent a new fore-staysail, main spencer, and close 
mizzen ; so that, if we lost our anchors, we should be 
prepared to get under way and go to sea. We had 
taken extra pains to get the correct bearings from 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 95 

the ship to the entrance of the narrow channel 
through which we must pass to get to sea. We paid 
out forty-five fathoms of the largest chain, got the 
other ready to let go ; both chains were on deck 
ready for immediate use. So many precautions 
would have been unnecessary for any other emer- 
gency than the occurrence of a gale while the boats 
were away ; in which case there would not be men 
enough on board to handle the vessel promptly. 

After all was done for the safety of the ship if a 
sudden gale should come on in the absence of the 
boats (for gales there come without any warning), 
we were ready for business. 

The custom is to take the land-breeze in early 
morning, run down to near the reef, then peak our 
oars, and sail back and forth all day with a man 
standing up in the bow and stern, looking for whales ; 
the boats keeping about two miles apart. At noon 
we partake of a lunch. At about ten, A.M., the sea- 
breeze sets in ; and at four we sail towards the ship, 
where we arrive earlier or later, according to the 
strength of the wind ; this being the e very-day rou- 
tine of bay-whaling. 

We had been engaged going and coming from the 
cruising ground for about ten days, with not one 
sight of a whale, when one day about noon the chief 
mate signalled us to go on board. We had noticed 
all the morning that the atmosphere seemed to be 
impregnated with something unusual, although no 
indications of a storm appeared other than a few 
straggling clouds. The wind had been steadily in- 
creasing since morning, and when we were signalled 






96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

it was blowing quite strong from the south-west. We 
down sail, and pulled to where the mate was wait- 
ing, when he told us to hurry on board as fast as 
possible, for we were going to have a south-wester. 
Instead of having a sea-breeze to help us, we had 
the wind almost in our teeth, all the time increas- 
ing; and we pulled until dark before some of the 
boats got alongside. In ordinary weather we could 
have rowed the distance in two or three hours. The 
captain had done every thing he could think of for 
the safety of the ship before we got on board : so 
there was but little for us to do but watch the course 
of events. By this time the wind had assumed 
fearful velocity. We were anchored in five-fathom 
water ; and, although the wind had not more than 
three or four miles sweep, the seas were tremendous ; 
and at every jump the ship made it seemed that 
every thing forward must go by the board. The best 
bower, that is, the large chain, was run out to the 
batter end ninety fathoms ; while the other anchor 
was forty-five fathoms from the ship. After seeing 
to every little thing that we thought would add to 
our security, we went to supper. I shall never forget 
that table-scene as long as Memory holds her sway. 
There sat Capt. Brooks looking the picture of 
despair, and all the officers exhibiting by their looks 
the most intense apprehensions for the safety of the 
ship. The feeling was universal throughout the 
ship's company, that she would not ride the gale out 
in safety. Not a word was uttered by any one until 
we had nearly completed our meal, when the ship 
seemed to stand on end, and, as her bow came down, 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 97 

a loud report and a crash, saluted our listening ears. 
Before we reached the deck we heard the awful cry, 
that the large chain had parted. Such consternation 
as followed this announcement baffles description. 
The chain had parted at the windlass, and in going 
out got kinked up, and took out the hawser-pipe, and 
carried away a considerable portion of the bow. 
This accounted for the report and crash which we 
heard in the cabin. Of course the only thing to do 
next was to pay out the other chain ; but, as the 
ship was nearly side to the wind, we had little hopes 
of checking her. She was drifting directly foul of 
the " Duke of Orleans," the large French ship already 
referred to. If we struck her, no power on earth 
could prevent both from going ashore. Upon paying 
out the other chain, the moment it brought up that 
parted at the anchor, without so much as checking 
her in the least. It seemed now that our only 
chance for saving the ship was gone. The captain 
was running fore and aft like a madman, talking 
incoherently. The subordinate officers held a hurried 
consultation to determine what was best to be done. 
The old man being out of his right mind, we did not 
consult him, but agreed among ourselves to slip the 
cable, get what sail on she could bear, and try and 
go to sea. This was a hazardous undertaking in that 
dark night in such a furious tornado ; and, to make it 
still worse, we would have to go seventeen miles, and 
run our chances of hitting the entrance to the 
narrow channel, the only passage from the bay to 
the ocean. It was fortunate for us that the ship 
swung round to the eastward, and forged ahead far 



98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

enough to just clear the French ship. We divided 
ourselves into separate squads; some to unshackle the 
chain around the foot of the main-mast, which was 
no easy job, as the shackle-pin was so completely 
rusted in that it took a great deal of work to start 
it; others went to close-reef the top-sails, and get 
ready, as soon as the chain was clear, to start on our 
perilous passage. After a while the news was passed 
up, that the chain was clear. We soon had it on 
deck, and so arranged that it would run clear. In 
less than a minute afterwards it was lying at the 
bottom, doing no other damage than cutting the 
windlass pretty bad, and carrying away the hawser- 
pipe. Every thing being in readiness, we soon had 
her under way towards the reef. The course, as 
previously ascertained, from where we anchored to 
the passage out, was E. by S., |- south ; but, as we 
had drifted somewhat to the leeward, we must make 
that good by steering E. S. E. I took the wheel by 
the special request of the other officers, as I was 
thought to be the best wheel-man on board ; besides, 
I was taking things so coolly, they thought that I 
would be the safest in an emergency of that kind. 
Although their preference did not excite my vanity, 
I partook of the same feeling myself. The sound- 
ings were regular, from seven to nine fathoms until 
we neared the reef, when they began to diminish 
slowly. We could see nothing ; but, as we drew 
nearer to the dangerous rocks, the roaring of the 
breakers both to windward and leeward, amid the 
howling tempest, was terrific. This awful sound was 
increasing as we advanced, the wind being two or 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 99 

three points free, the weather top-sail braces well 
checked in. We were making at least from eight to ten 
knots per hour. Not a word was spoken the whole 
passage, except the ominous ones of the man in the 
chains, giving the depth of water. All hands cuddled 
close together on the weather side, near the main- 
mast, expecting at every downward plunge the ship 
would strike the bottom, which would be the end of 
all things temporal with us. When the depth of 
water had diminished to five fathoms, I heard some- 
one say " Luff." Instantly I rolled the wheel down ; 
and, when she was heading S. W. by S., the same 
voice rang out plain and distinct, " Steady!" and, 
when the soundings indicated 4J fathoms, the voice 
again said, " Keep her E. by S.," which instruction I 
obeyed with the same alacrity and promptness ±hat I 
would an order from an earthly pilot. At the time 
I received the last " course " from my invisible pilot, 
I did not know the last cast of the lead, which the 
man in the chains, having ascertained, threw in on 
deck, and followed it himself, expecting the next 
jump we should be on the rocks. When he came 
aft, I ascertained the above. Finding she didn't 
strike, I told Jack to see how much water there was. 
He threw the lead overboard, and ran out the whole 
line, twenty fathoms, and sung out lustily, " The 
bottom has dropped out." 

At this announcement we all breathed freer : yet 
there was no demonstration, no congratulation, but a 
solemn silence was the only expression visible upon 
the anxious countenances of those hardy, weather- 
beaten sailors. For the time being we were silently 



100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

hopeful. But this state lasted only a moment : the 
clanger was not passed ; it had only changed places ; 
for, in less than two hours after crossing the bar, the 
wind veered suddenly to the south-east, with no 
variation in its velocity. The change set us toward 
a lee shore of overhanging mountains, of craggy, 
solid, granite bluffs, extending many leagues both to 
the north and south, and but a few miles distant. 
The sadden change of wind made a tremendous 
heavy cross sea, which caused the ship to labor very 
heavily. The heavy press of canvas we were obliged 
to carry, to keep her from falling to leeward, strained 
every timber and bolt to their utmost tension ; and 
although we had preventer topsail braces on, yet we 
were under fearful apprehensions lest . the topsail 
sheet would be unable to resist the fearful strain ; 
and, if it did not, our chances for escape would be 
hopeless. We were on the starboard tack, with Cape 
Corientes, a high bluff of black, craggy rocks, only 
three points off our lee bow, which we must weather : 
upon this all our hopes of escape were centred. But, 
as we neared its almost perpendicular walls, it seemed 
impossible to weather it. When not over one and a 
half leagues from its frowning front, we found we 
had either to go about or go ashore. With this as 
our only alternative, we made several unsuccessful 
attempts to stay ship ; that is, to get on the other 
tack without going to leeward. Failing in this, our 
next and only alternative was to wear ship ; and, as 
there was not a moment to lose, we set about it 
immediately. Of course every thing was done that 
seamanship could suggest to facilitate the operation ; 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALIXG. 101 

for in wearing we knew that she must necessarily go 
toward the iron-bound coast which we were so 
anxious to avoid. In due time we had her braced 
up on the other tack ; and, owing to the sudden 
change of wind as before mentioned, the sea took 
her on the lee-bow, which prevented her going to 
leeward as fast as she did on the other tack. If the 
wind should not change to our disadvantage, which 
it might do almost instantly, and if nothing of a 
serious nature occurred to the ship, our chances were 
becoming favorable ; but, as we were not safe in 
indulging that view of things, we were kept for 
twenty-three hours in the most anxious suspense. 
When at last the gale subsided, and all fears of 
going ashore were dissipated, we repaired damages as 
far as Ave could, and headed once more for the bay, 
to recover our two lost anchors and chains ; which, 
being buoyed, we would have no difficulty in finding. 
In two days after passing over the bar that fearful 
night, we again recrossed it, and found the French 
ship still at anchor. After parting both chain cables, 
she rode out the gale with an old condemned hemp 
cable. The English ship, the moment the gale 
abated, got under way and went to sea. We learned 
some five months afterward, that the English cap- 
tain, on going into* Cape Town, a port on the south- 
ern promontory of Africa, reported the " Peru," with 
all on board, lost in attempting to get to sea in a 
gale from the south-west. This false story got into 
the papers in Nantucket, and was copied into others. 
Of course all from the island were mourned as dead. 
Luckily the news failed to reach my folks. We were 



102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

somewhat surprised, however, when we anchored in 
Cape Town, to find we were all "dead men." 

We got our anchors and chains, and proceeded to 
sea, and cruised some five months with varying 
success. On our passage to Simmons Bay, twenty- 
two miles from Cape Town, a heavy sea boarded us 
while lying to in a gale on what is called Lagullus 
Bank, and carried away the rail and bulwarks on 
the starboard side, fore and aft ; what with that and 
the damages sustained in Delagoa Bay, took some six 
weeks to repair. 

Before dismissing this part of the voyage, I will 
again refer to the voice which told me to luff when 
nearing the passage out of the bay, on the eventful 
night referred to, when we were seeking for the 
channel by which to get to sea. From careful obser- 
vations by sounding, after the gale, I found that the 
specific depth of water indicated when Jack threw 
the lead in on deck was nowhere else to be found; 
that we were then on the northern side of the 
channel, and, had I not heeded the invisible pilot, we 
should have most certainly gone on to the rocks to 
leeward of the channel. As no other one in the ship 
ever heard these voices, I said nothing about them 
for fear of unfavorable comments. None of the 
officers knew but what I was all 'the time steering 
the course determined upon when we got sail on ; 
everybody thinking, myself included, that the course 
east-south-east amply provided for her drifting be- 
fore we made sail. Thus it was proved beyond a 
peradventure, that some unseen intelligence, come 
from what source it might, took upon itself, through 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 103 

my organism, to pilot the ship out through that dif- 
ficult passage to the deep waters of the ocean. If 
any should say it was a delusion on my part, that I 
fancied it, such an assertion does not in the least 
change the character of the transaction ; for it must 
be evident to all, that, had not something outside of 
nryself and that ship's company told me to change 
the course, the ship and all hands must inevitably 
have been lost. If this had been an isolated case in 
my experience, I myself might have thought little 
of it ; but many times, both before and since, this 
same voice has piloted me out of many difficulties, 
when every resource at my command had been ex- 
hausted. And I know from whence this guiding voice 
emanates. I should feel recreant to every principle 
of justice if I failed to " give unto Caesar the things 
that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are 
God's." 

After recruiting and repairing ship, we sailed, 
the 10th of December, on another cruise for right 
whales, and, having procured an average quantity of 
oil, started leisurely for home when the whaling 
season was over, lying to nights under easy sail, 
and looking out for whales through the day. On 
our passage home, we called at the island of St. 
Helena to recruit ship. The island is nothing but a 
large jagged, barren rock, as seen on approaching it, 
inaccessible for landing excepting in one place, where 
the little town of Jamestown is located, and where all 
the business of the island is transacted. It is unpro- 
ductive except in the gorges of the mountains, where 
small patches are cultivated ; it being the only place, 



104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

as before stated, where a landing could be effected. 
Jamestown is protected by immense forts, which com- 
pletely command all approaches to the town. The 
island belongs to England, but was leased and con- 
trolled by the English East India Company, as a 
rendezvous for their ships going and coming from 
India, until 18S3, when their lease expired. The 
British Government reserved the right of sending 
convicts from England to the island, to serve out a 
penal servitude for misdemeanors committed in the 
mother country. It was here that the first Napoleon 
was banished after his disastrous defeat at Waterloo, 
and where his body was lying at the time of our visit 
to the island. I made two pilgrimages to his tomb 
at Longwood before we left the island ; and while 
contemplating the causes of the fall of one of the 
most ambitious conquerors the world ever knew, 
whose every movement was watched by all nations 
with suspicious suspense and anxiety as to what 
would be his next move, — causes of the fall of the 
hero of Austerlitz and Lodi, — I could but exclaim, 
with one of old, " How are the mighty fallen ! " 

After remaining here some three weeks, we pro- 
ceeded to sea on our homeward passage ; and when 
only a week out, having occasion to replenish the 
bread-locker and harness-cask, we broke out the after 
hatch where all reserved provisions were stowed away ; 
and the first bread-cask we opened was found empty : 
the next and the next proved to be the same. This 
alarmed us ; we followed up the examination, and all 
the bread we could find was one cask about two- 
thirds full. We next examined the pork and beef 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 105 

barrels ; and less than one half-barrel of beef, and not 
a pound of pork, was the result of the investigation. 
When it became known how small was our allowance 
for at least six weeks, and no possible way of getting 
back to oar last port on account of the south-east 
trade-winds, which blow from that quarter with but 
little variation the year round, our consternation can 
be better imagined than described. The mate, in 
accordance with instructions from the captain, over- 
hauled all the bread-casks and meat-barrels, soon 
after we entered the harbor ; and, as all were properly 
marked, he reported accordingly ; and the quantity 
was considered sufficient to last at least three months. 
Considerable blame was attached to the officer for 
not unheading them so as to be sure of their contents ; 
but such a circumstance as ours was never .known 
before, and hence he was not so much to blame. I 
doubt not that those who growled the most would 
have rested on the same evidence that he did. 

The only hope of replenishing our exhausted larder 
was that we might possibly fall in with some outward- 
bound West-Indiaman when we should have got far 
enough north. But it would not be prudent to trust 
to that ; and so, after viewing the situation as it really 
existed, we came to a sensible conclusion to find out 
the exact amount of our provisions, and to put our- 
selves forthwith on allowance, reckoning on a basis 
of six weeks to either get into St. Thomas, or fall in 
with some outward-bound vessel. After weighing 
out all our bread, there was precisely ten ounces per 
day to each man for six weeks. The course adopted 
was, to weigh out seventy ounces to each man, as all 



106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. . 

lie would get for seven clays ; and then each one would 
get the same allowance for another week ; and so on 
until we could get more. As there was less than a half- 
barrel of beef, it was thought best to divide it equally 
among all hands, and let each use his share when and 
as he pleased. As a strange concomitant, our water 
was also short, so that we had to allowance ourselves 
on that as well. Although of no great consequence, 
upon investigation into the steward's department, 
we found that we had tea and coffee for only about 
two weeks ; but what added more than any thing else 
to our inconvenience was, our tobacco failed us in 
about three weeks ; thus proving the old adage true, 
" It never rains but it pours." 

One consideration kept our hopes moderately buoy- 
ant. We had all the appliances for catching whales ; 
and, if we failed in capturing them, we had a right to 
expect, in fact almost knew, we should be able to get 
some black-fish and porpoises, which we had been 
accustomed to fall in with almost every day or two ; 
and then again we might and probably should catch 
plenty of dolphin, skip-jacks, and alvicoes, all deep- 
water fish, and never eaten but by those compelled 
to it by the lack of other and more palatable food ; 
but, in case of starvation, any thing with a particle of 
nutrition in its composition is eagerly sought for, and 
as eagerly eaten. But, strange to say, for the five 
weeks and three days we were subject to this short 
allowance, we did not catch any thing big or small, 
although we used every means within our power to 
do so, prompted by that most inciting organ, a famish- 
ing, empty stomach : yet we failed entirely. Thus 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 107 

day after day came and went, bringing each morn 
fresh hopes of better luck, which kept us compara- 
tively easy, although after the second week had 
passed we began to show our lack of sustenance. 

Before the first week was passed, some unseen 
intelligence told me to change my mode of eating. 
I listened to the suggestions and reasoning with the 
same interest that I would to any mortal who I 
had reason to believe was competent to advise in an 
emergency of the kind I was laboring under ; and, as 
the suggestions seemed reasonable, I determined to 
adopt them at once. The advice was to eat three 
clays' allowance in one, and nothing the next two 
daj-s. The voice reasoned, that on that day I would 
not feel any inconvenience from want of food ; the 
second, I would hardly realize that I was limited ; 
and, the third day, I would suffer no more than I did 
continuously when I eat my small regular allowance 
every clay. I mentioned my determination to the 
captain and officers, giving my reasons, but kept 
dark as to the source of suggestion. They all 
advised me not to do so, arguing that it would be 
very injurious to my stomach, and, besides, that 
there would be danger of the small intestines grow- 
ing together. However, contrary to their well- 
meaning advice, I adopted and carried out the 
suggestions to the letter ; and after a few clays' 
trial, finding that I was a gainer by it, followed it up 
until we were finally relieved, some five weeks and 
three days from the beginning of the famine; at 
which time, early in the morning, the lookout aloft 
gave the welcome shout, " Sail ho ! " To make sure 



108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

of it, I went aloft myself, and with the glass could 
see the upper sails of a vessel, but, she being so far 
off, could not see her hull. I got her bearings by 
compass, and reported the news to the captain ; who 
upon hearing it jumped out of his berth, telling me, 
at the same time, to get my boat down, and get 
ready to start, which was soon accomplished ; when 
the captain giving me a purse of money, with a 
memorandum of what to purchase if they had any 
thing to sell, and taking what bread we had along 
with us, we started a little before sunrise, and did 
not get alongside until twelve o'clock. She proved 
to be the brig " Nahant" of Boston, loaded with pork, 
beef, dried codfish, and potatoes, bound for Barba- 
does, one of the West India Islands, for a market. 

We had made only sixty miles in the last three 
weeks, being becalmed most of the time ; and what 
seemed the strangest of all was, we were where 
there usually is the strongest part of the north-east 
trade-winds. I had passed there several times 
before with reefs in the topsails ; but now it had 
been calm as a pond for over three weeks. 

When I got on the deck of the brig, I told the 
captain our situation, and what I wanted. He was 
a genial, good soul, and said he would assist us all 
that he could; but, says he, " You want something 
to eat, first of all. Take your crew into the cabin, 
and get some dinner ; and I will set the cook to get 
some for ourselves." He led the way into the cabin, 
and waited upon us while we did ample justice to 
a wholesome, well-cooked dinner. Before I had 
completed my purchase, a light breeze sprang up 



SECOND VOYAGE WHALING. 109 

from the westward ; and, as the vessels were bound 
in opposite directions, neither went out of her course 
in approaching the other. The wind continuing, I 
remained on board the brig until four, p. M., when, 
with my boat-load of provisions, I hauled alongside 
of our ship. In a few minutes every thing was on 
deck, the boat on her cranes, and the " Peru " heading 
her course once more, with all sail set, the wind by 
this time having increased to a stiff breeze. 

I will mention one incident in connection with 
this affair, which, to say the least, was remarkably 
singular ; showing that often, when we have plenty, 
nature and many men are ready to assist us, while, 
when reverses come, both the courses of Providence 
and our most intimate friends often pass us by unaided. 
So it was in our case. The whole time we were 
suffering for something to eat, not a fish of any kind 
could we take : when we got one almost on deck, it 
would wriggle off the hook, and drop into the water ; 
but, while I was gone, dolphin came round the ship 
in such quantities that the crew actually took them 
out of the water with boat-hooks, and when I got in 
on deck they had over half of a beef-barrel full ; but 
as we were now amply supplied with good pro- 
visions, and the dolphins being rather unsafe to eat 
because of their sometimes being poisonous, we con- 
signed them to the ocean. 

Nothing further of importance occured during our 
passage home. We anchored outside the bar of the 
harbor of Nantucket, where we arrived in August, 
1836, having been absent about thirty months. 

The voyage, as a whole, was a success. After 



110 AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 

settling up, and receiving the compensation agreed 
upon, I shipped as second officer in " The Henry," a 
new ship commanded by Capt. George Chase, on a 
four-years' voyage around Cape Horn, in pursuit of 
sperm whales exclusively. After all the preliminaries 
were settled as to how long I should be absent, my 
brother and self started for the home of our childhood, 
where we were received with all the demonstrations 
of joy that loving hearts were capable of expressing. 
Thus ends the account of my second voyage. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 

When two of my six-weeks furlough had expired, 
I received a letter from the owners of the ship, 
saying, that as there was a prospect of war being 
declared against France, on account of the non-pay- 
ment of some indemnity due our Government, the 
ship would be laid up until the difficulty was 
adjusted. Gen. Jackson, the then president,, made 
declaration, backed by his cabinet, that, if the 
French would not liquidate their liability, he would 
whip it out of them. The French, seeing the im- 
possibility of frightening the hero of New Orleans, 
wisely decided to make a virtue of necessity, and 
pay up, rather than measure swords with a people 
who were determined to fight for their rights, if no 
other course would secure them. 

I had kept company with a Miss Rebecca F. 
Chapman for several years ; and it was agreed be- 
tween ourselves to get married after I had made 
another voyage. But events transpiring as above 
related would keep me at home until the next 
summer, and perhaps longer. We therefore thought 
best to have the ceremony solemnized at once. This 
being agreed to all round, preparations were com- 

111 



112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

inenced to carry it into immediate consummation. 
The day fixed for the nuptials was the 5th of Sep- 
tember, 1836, at which time the event took place at 
the home of my bride, amid the congratulations of 
friends collected to witness the ceremony. We were 
to be married in the morning ; and it was arranged to 
go on a drive of some ten miles in company with a 
few friends, take dinner with an old friend of mine 
who kept a public house, and return in the evening ; 
all of which was carried out as per programme. On 
our return, I was handed a letter, in which was an 
order for me to repair at once to Nantucket and join 
the ship, as the brush with the French had been 
amicably settled. The ship would go to sea as soon as 
she could be made ready. I said nothing to any one 
about the contents of the letter until next morning, 
when I showed it to my wife. She was somewhat 
surprised, as well as myself; but as the request was 
imperative there was no way to avoid it, unless I 
gave up a first-rate chance. I left on the 13th, thus 
having had but six days for my honeymoon. When 
the time came round, I left friends and home once 
more, this time bound on a long and perilous voyage. 
My young mate bore up under the separation much 
better than many of my own family connections. 
Good sense told her that it was the only thing that 
could properly be done, and she submitted to her 
destiny, with the peculiar heroism of her sex; that 
is to say, she made the best of it. 

In due time I arrived at the island, where I found 
the owners driving business, to get the ship to 
Edgartown on the island of Martha's Vineyard, 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 113 

where she was to take in her supplies, and where she 
arrived in about ten days after I landed on the 
island. After we had taken aboard our supplies, we 
sailed on the 19th of November, 1836, to be absent 
four years, unless we filled the ship, before. We had 
an average passage to the Western Islands, where 
we filled our complement of men from among the 
natives, and supplied the ship with fresh provisions, 
and a good stock of poultrj r , pigs, &c. ; after procur- 
ing which, we proceeded on our voyage towards the 
Pacific Ocean. It being in January, we had a re- 
markably pleasant passage round the Horn, carrying 
whole topsails and topgallant-sails until we entered 
the Pacific. Saw several lone whales off the cape, 
but did not succeed in capturing any. We made 
our way down the coast until opposite Chili, where 
we cruised in the vicinity of the island of Juan 
Fernandez between three and four months ; procur- 
ing, in the mean time, several hundred barrels of 
sperm oil. Landed on the above-named island, 
hoping to be able to obtain a supply of fresh water, 
which we failed to do, on account of the difficulty 
of landing sufficiently near to a stream or pond. 
However, we succeeded at the island of Massafurio, 
some sixty miles distant from Juan ; after which we 
leisurely started for Callao, situated in latitude 12° 
south, on the coast of Peru, where we intended to 
recruit both men and ship ; which port we entered 
on the 6th of May, 1837. 

After remaining here some four weeks, we got 
under way, and proceeded to what is called the 
Offshore Ground, some six hundred miles off the 



114 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

coast of Peru, in latitude about 12° south, where 
we succeeded, in six months, in procuring about 
five hundred barrels of oil; when Capt. Chase, 
who was suffering with indigestion, determined to 
again visit Callao, to recruit the crew with a run 
ashore, and the ship's larder with fresh provisions, 
vegetables, &c. ; also to procure, if possible, medical 
aid to recover his health. In due time we re- 
entered the above-mentioned port, and he at once 
consulted the surgeon of the United States ship 
" Ohio," carrying seventy-four guns, lying at that 
time at the above-named port. The doctor, after 
examining the state of his stomach, told him that 
he would have to stop ashore at least six months, 
before his disease could be cured. It was hard to 
submit to this condition ; but as there was no other 
remedy he had to comply. So it was arranged that 
the ship should go on a cruise without him. After 
all our recruits were aboard, we proceeded to sea, 
and, as per instructions, arrived on the Offshore 
Ground, our last cruising ground, where we were even 
more successful than in the previous six months. 
When our time was up, we headed once more for 
Callao, where we arrived in due time, highly elated 
with our good luck, but not more so than the captain, 
who had in the mean time completely recovered his 
usual health and spirits. 

After recruiting both men and the ship, we put to 
sea again, heading for our old cruising ground, where 
we cruised the season out, obtaining some four hun- 
dred barrels, after which it was time to recruit ship 
again ; and, as our wood and water were getting 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 115 

short, the old man decided to go to Tombez, a small 
Spanish town situated on a river of that name, in 
latitude 3° 12' south, where wood and water could 
be procured in abundance. A slightly laughable 
incident happened as we were running down the 
coast. Not one in the ship had ever been there ; 
and, although we knew the latitude, there was no 
harbor or town near the shore, nor headland, to indi- 
cate the entrance to the river. We were told that it 
would be difficult to know just where to so anchor, as 
to be near the outlet of the stream. 

When within twenty or thirty miles of the place, 
we saw a whale-ship beating up the coast, and, 
rightly judging she had but just left the watering- 
place, we concluded to speak her, and ascertain more 
particulars than we possessed about where to anchor. 
In reply to our question how we should know when 
we got to Tombez, the answer was, " Run down the 
coast until you get tired, down anchor, and that'll be 
Tombez." With the above definite (?) information, 
of course we anticipated no great trouble in finding 
the anchorage. Looking out sharp to see when our 
latitude was run down, we anchored, though uncer- 
tain whether we were near the river's mouth, or not. 
Soon after coming to, we perceived a sail -boat 
coming out of some bushes, as it appeared to us, and 
heading towards our ship. From the men in the 
boat we ascertained the entrance to the river to be 
directly in shore from where the ship was anchored. 

We lay here some three weeks ; and after getting 
wood, water, fresh provisions, and vegetables, also a 
live bullock to be killed at sea, we got under way, 



116 AUTOBIOGKAPHY. 

bound up the coast to Payta, in latitude 6° south, 
where we could procure a supply of onions, which 
could not be procured in the former place, and which, 
being potent for warding off scurvy, we much want- 
ed : also we wanted to cooper our oil, since by indi- 
cations from pumping we found it to be leaking out 
of the casks. 

In beating up the coast to Payta (for it must be 
remembered that the wind there always blows down 
along shore the year round) an incident transpired, 
which, if it hadn't been for my guardians giving me 
timely warning, would have wrecked the ship. 

The second night out from Tombez, we tacked off 
shore just at sunset, with a whole-sail breeze, which 
continued until two, A.M., our instructions were 
to tack in shore at that hour. It being my watch 
from twelve to four, it devolved upon me to execute 
the order. Soon after we went about, the wind 
slackened so that the sails flapped against the masts ; 
and by three and a half, a.m., it had become very 
light. I was suffering with a jumping toothache, 
and tried every available means to lessen it, but 
without avail. I walked the deck rapidly, trying to 
get up a perspiration ; failing in that, I laid the ach- 
ing side of my head in my hand on the cabin gang- 
way. I hadn't been in that position over a minute, 
when I heard my familiar voice say in clear, distinct 
words, " Get into the lee after boat." I started 
instantly to obey the summons. When with my 
hands on the rail, and one foot on a spare topmast 
lashed to ring-bolts in the stanchions, and I was about 
to spring into the boat, I happened to look under the 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 117 

foot of the mainsail forward, and saw that we were 
near the shore, seemingly not a dozen rods off ; and 
large rocks were nearer still. I could see the water 
dash against them. For a moment I was paralyzed ; 
but it was only momentary. I saw at once the real 
position of the ship, and that the only chance for 
escape was to tack at once. As the wind was light, 
I had serious apprehensions about her coming round ; 
which, if she failed to do, she must inevitably go 
ashore. I told the man steering, to roll the wheel 
"hard down," singing out at the same time to the 
watch to " stand by for stays." The ship was soon 
hard aback. I watched the vane at mast-head to see 
when the ship was head to the wind, and thus to 
know when to haul round the after-yards ; although 
she swung round as fast as could be expected with 
such a light wind, yet it seemed an eternity to me. 
When it was time to " topsails haul," in the hurry 
and confusion, the men forgot to attend to the main 
tack and bowline ; perceiving which, I started across 
the main hatch to let them go ; and, the bullock 
standing in my way, I made a clean breach over his 
back without touching him; a feat which under 
ordinary circumstances would have been impossible. 
By the time I had her braced up on the offshore 
tack, it was daylight. I went into the cabin, and got 
the old man up to look out of the cabin windows ; 
and, although she had been going off shore some time, 
yet in the dim daylight the land did not appear to 
be more than a dozen rods off; in fact, the land ap- 
peared to be directly under the stern of the ship. 
The captain was speechless for a moment, and then 



118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

asked how they got there. I informed him, what I 
have already said, about tacking in at two, A.M., also 
in regard to the strength of the wind while on the 
offshore tack, &c. It was a mystery then, and has 
always remained one ; we finally talked about an in- 
shore current not laid down on the charts, and let it 
go at that. I will merely add that the excitement 
killed my toothache, and I do not remember of ever 
having it since. The significance of the above inci- 
dent will be apparent, when the fact is regarded, that 
the saving of the ship was attributable entirely to 
some invisible intelligence, telling me in clear, distinct 
terms, how to avoid it. This intelligence, I claim, 
was my guardian spirit, who has been and ever is 
watching over my welfare. It might be asked, if this 
intelligence can talk to me audibly, informing me of 
dangers, and how to avoid them, why not to all ? In 
answer to this, I can simply say, I do not knoiv, any 
more than if asked, If one cow has horns, why don't 
all cows have the same ? No reasoning, intelligent 
person, can doubt for a single moment, that for every 
effect there must be an adequate cause, whether they 
understand it or not : there must be an adequate 
cause for the differences in the cows' horns, and also 
for my hearing suggestive, warning words, coming 
from some unseen intelligence, while most persons 
cannot. 

In due time we entered the port of Payta, where 
we got a supply of onions, &c, and, after coopering 
our oil, put to sea again ; this time heading for the 
Galapagos Islands, situated on, and both sides of, the 
line ; that is, in latitude 0°, — where we intended to 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 119 

spend the next six months in the prosecution of our 
legitimate business. 

We were peculiarly fortunate here, in procuring 
oil ; for in about four months we succeeded in stow- 
ing down over five hundred barrels, lacking only 
about two hundred barrels of filling the ship. Before 
I leave this part of the voyage, I will relate an inci- 
dent which happened to myself while killing a large 
sperm whale, which may not be uninteresting to the 
general reader, and which I think worthy of record- 
ing. It opened up to my mind a new train of 
thought, in regard to the survival of the acts and 
thoughts we perform and cherish while gliding down 
the stream of time ; which survival, if heeded, would 
save us many severe reflections in our more mature 
years if not after we shall have passed from the ma- 
terial form through the portal of death. Such survi- 
val I as fully believe in as in my own existence now. 
At the time the experience occurred, I had never 
heard of any thing like it before ; but, in relating it 
to others in after years, I found that such scenes have 
been the experience of many who have been resusci- 
tated when nearly drowned. ■ 

One day in Lee Bay, at the above-named islands, 
and where we procured the most of our oil on this 
cruise, having fastened to a large sperm whale in a 
rough sea, instead of going round to leeward (which 
would have taken but a few moments), and to gratify 
a foolish vanity to be thought courageous and brave, 
I hauled on to windward to lance him. As the 
whale was lying in the trough of the sea, this 
brought the boat, by the action of the waves, along- 



120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

side of him, and so close as to render the oars useless 
in handling the boat. Perceiving the boat was in 
danger of shooting ahead on to his jaw, I gave order 
to the boatsteerer to "lay on," so that the head of 
the boat would bring up against the whale's side and 
stop her . He mistook the order, and hove the head 
off instead. Seeing that the boat would range ahead 
too far, I ordered the men to " stern all ; " at the 
same time putting my lance against the whale to help 
stop the boat. As it proved afterwards, I stuck the 
lance in his eye. The next thing I knew, I was 
under water, how far down I had no means of know- 
ing. It seems, as I afterwards learned from those 
looking on, that, the moment the lance touched him, 
he rolled suddenly, striking the boat directly under 
my feet, taking the head of the boat off, and throw- 
ing me up, some said as high as thirty feet, whence, 
turning a somersault in the air, I came down head 
first, and disappeared under water. Those who wit- 
nessed it thought I was killed outright. When I 
came to myself, I felt no inconvenience from having 
swallowed water, as one would naturally suppose I 
must, having been made entirely unconscious by the 
concussion, and remaining so for a time while many 
fathoms below the surface. The moment I came to 
consciousness, I saw directly before me, and about 
twenty feet off, what appeared the front of the stage 
in a theatre, with a dark-colored screen rolling from 
right to left, similar to canvas representing pano- 
ramic views. On this canvas I saw all my nearest 
and dearest friends, full size, and dressed precisely 
as last seen; each one separate and alone, until 



THIED VOYAGE WHALING. 121 

they all successively passed in review before me. 
Following this exhibition, all my thoughts, from my 
earliest childhood, were represented on the rolling 
canvas by symbols ; and, although I had never seen 
or heard of such a thing before, I knew, when the 
different symbols were presented, what thought each 
was intended to illustrate ; and not only that, but I 
knew where I was when each particular thought 
came into my mind. A great many of those repre- 
sented I never gave expression to by act or deed ; 
and yet there they were, plain and distinct, the good 
and bad alternately, following each other in regular 
order as they came into my mind ; those less desir- 
able to contemplate being largely in the majority, I 
am obliged to acknowledge. All this could have 
occupied but a veiy brief time ; and yet each friend 
remained still long enough for me to scan the fea- 
tures and dress before giving place for another ; and 
so with the thoughts. After viewing one, the screen 
rolled to the left, when another presented himself or 
herself; and so with the thoughts. 

The vision ended the moment I came to full con- 
sciousness, and could, as before stated, have occupied 
scarcely more than a moment of time. When I 
came to myself under water, although I knew noth- 
ing of what transpired at the time the whale struck 
the boat, I seemed to know all about it, paradoxical 
as it may seem. I knew the boat was stoven ; and 
as I looked up I saw the line, which was coiled in a 
tub before the boat rolled over, sprawling round in 
the water ; and knowing that this was fast to the 
wt^ale, and that if I got entangled in its coils and 



122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the whale should start off, it would be all up with 
me, I commenced at once to swim towards day- 
light, heading so as to keep clear of the line. Soon 
after I had commenced making my way to the sur- 
face, I touched something with my left foot. Think- 
ing it might be a piece of " squid" (a sort of enor- 
mous jelly-fish of the squid species, and on which, 
with smaller ones of the same kind, the sperm whale 
subsists), I pressed my foot suddenly on it, knowing 
that if it was what I supposed it to be it would 
" give " under the pressure ; but my foot brought 
up on a hard substance. By this I knew it was Mr. 
Whale, who had settled down, but now, like myself, 
was seeking the upper air. I bent my legs against 
his head, and made a spring upwards, and soon 
" broke" water, not in the least unfavorably affected 
by the unceremonious bath. Before I had got into 
another boat, the whale made his appearance a few 
feet from where I came up. The crews of three boats 
from the ship " Abigail," of New Bedford, who were 
in company with us, and who tried hard to get the 
whale, and four boat-crews from our own ship, all 
said that I was under water at least five minutes, 
and many of them that it was over ten, either of 
these estimates was probably too high. When I got 
into a boat, I felt no more inconvenience from the 
immersion than though I had simply tumbled over- 
board and been the next minute in the boat again. 
I went on, and helped kill the whale, as though 
nothing unusual had happened. The most interest- 
ing part of the affair, to me, was the vision ; and, if 
I had seen only my friends and relatives, I might 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 123 

have accounted for it (from the fact that they were 
often in my mind) on the principle of dreams ; but 
when I take into account the different symbols, each 
representing long-forgotten thoughts, it assumes a 
phase and interest far transcending all previous 
knowledge ; and to me at that time it was, and is 
now, mysterious. The lesson it taught far exceeded 
all that religion ever promulgated from the pulpit ; 
and if heeded, as before suggested, it would save us 
many serious regrets. For if this is true, — that is, if 
we do write our own autobiography on the escutch- 
eon of our souls, as the vision fairly indicated, — then 
every act and thought will be in the future known 
not only by ourselves, but everybody else can see 
them as well, when we shall have crossed the mystic 
river that separates this state of being from the one 
immediately beyond the tomb. How careful, there- 
fore, ought we to be not to harbor a thought, or do 
an act, that, when Memory unrolls her scroll in the 
world of causes, shall make us blush, or shall cause 
our friends and associates unhappiness ! 

And then again, such things as those above related, 
coupled with other and more significant facts in the 
same direction in my own experience, as the reader 
will see as he peruses these pages, prove to me 
beyond a perad venture, that we are living and acting 
every moment of our lives in the presence of near 
and dear friends, who are cognizant of our every 
thought, and the real object of all our acts, whatever 
we may pretend. While here we can cover up and 
hide away many things that would be distressing to 
our earthly friends if they were known. Not so can 



124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

we hide from our dear departed, who are watching 
over our welfare with as much solicitude and interest 
as they ever did while in the form. Nothing can be 
hid from the keen eyes of the spirits : therefore we 
should be very careful not to pay them for their sym- 
pathy and kindness, by doing aught that may cause 
them to grieve and be unhappy. If we would not do 
or say any thing to cause our living friends regret, 
from whom we can cover up many things that we 
would not wish them to know, how much more care- 
ful should we be to do nothing in thought or act 
that would wound the sensitive, loving spirits, with 
whom nothing escapes their keen observation ! It 
seems to me, that knowledge of such a state or 
condition of the spirit after death, if universally 
believed, would do more towards harmonizing and 
improving humanity than all the churches of Chris- 
tendom could ever accomplish by their accustomed 
teachings. 

Soon after the little incident above related, we 
started for the little town of Tecamus, in latitude 
0° 56' north. Here we succeeded in obtaining a few 
sweet potatoes, some fresh beef, also wood and water. 
Some of the crew having become dissatisfied about 
something, nobody ever knew what, not even them- 
selves, took it into their heads to run away. So one 
night the boat-steerer of the larboard boat, who with 
his crew had the watch on deck from two to four, A.M., 
lowered the bow-boat silently, put in all their traps, 
and started off, nobody knew where but themselves. 
The next morning at daylight, news got into the 
cabin that Chad wick (the boat-steerer referred to) 



THIRD VOYAGE WHALING. 125 

and all his crew were gone. Capt. Chase was 
nearly frantic with anger, raved like a madman, 
threatening all sorts of vengeance if he ever caught 
them ; and, as soon as our breakfast was over, he 
went ashore, and offered the captain of a Peruvian 
military company stationed there a large bounty to 
take and deliver them on board the ship. This com- 
ing to their ears through some of the natives, they 
concluded that it would be impossible to elude the 
vigilance of the soldiers, any of whom would murder 
a man for ten cents, and that the best thing they 
could do was to come on board of their own free 
will. The next night, at about two, A.M., they came 
alongside. A more dejected, disheartened set of men 
never lived ; and at daylight the captain had every 
one of them triced up to the main rigging for a 
thrashing. He gave the ringleader (Chadwick) forty 
lashes, less one, with the " cat." The others fared 
much better. That is a most brutal and unmerciful 
way of correcting the errors of misguided and hum- 
ble delinquents. It was a heart-sickening scene to 
witness, but we were all compelled to. That old 
hardened sea-dog, with one foot in the grave, tied up 
seven misguided fellow-beings, and laid on to their 
bare backs, with the whole of his brute force, that 
cutting cat-o'-nine-tails, until the blood ran down 
their lacerated bodies in streams. It was the first 
and last time I ever witnessed such a brutal sight. 

Having taken aboard our supplies for another short 
cruise, we went to sea. This time we cruised in the 
vicinity of the Cocoa Islands some three months ; in 
which time we succeeded in filling the ship within a 



126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

few barrels, and then started once more for Tombez, 
to fit for home, where we arrived in due time. We 
felt happy and joyous at our successful voyage thus 
far, and, as soon as we had our supplies on board, 
made sail for home. This is always cause for rejoi- 
cing, after a long and successful campaign, either at 
sea or ashore. Ninety-three days from the time we 
left Tombez, we entered the port of Edgartown, 
from whence we sailed thirty-eight months before. 

The only casualties on the passage home were the 
accidental loss of two of the crew ; one a boy by the 
name of Joseph Coombs, who fell from the mizzen- 
top, and was killed by the fall; the other, William 
Berresford, from the North of England, who fell off 
the jib-boom when assisting to furl the jib, while 
running before the wind in a heavy squall. After 
our oil had all been taken to Nantucket, the ship 
followed. After arriving we were all paid off, and 
started for our respective homes. I arrived at my 
home the latter part of February, 1840. Thus ends 
a long and prosperous voyage. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FARMING. 

I reached home the last of February from my 
last voyage as detailed in the preceding chapter, and 
was undecided whether to go to sea again, or settle 
down on terra fir ma. 

My previous voyage had been a success, and my 
friends thought I had better go to farming ; they 
picturing to my verdant mind the enormous profits 
sure to accrue from such an effort, if properly 
managed. More to please friends than to fill my 
coffers, I reluctantly consented to abandon the sea 
altogether, and bend all my energies in tilling the 
soil. My wife, in fact all my relatives and friends, 
congratulated me upon my far-seeing business quali- 
ties; all promising to aid me with their unques- 
tioned wisdom (in their own estimation), if I should 
need it in my new occupation. Although I had 
worked on father's farm when a mere lad, — that is, 
when they could make me, — yet I knew no more 
about farming details than a child ten years old. 

To my question how I could manage a farm, with 
my inexperience, one said, " Oh, that's easy enough ! 
You can hire a good steady man to take charge of 
things for the first year or so, when you can manage 

127 



128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

it yourself." He suggested a young man by the name 

of John as a suitable person for the responsible 

station. I did not make a purchase for months after 
this conversation : yet, through the influence of his 
friends when I had purchased, -this same John got 
the position, at a monthly salary of twelve dollars 
the year round. All saw at once that I was a stupid 
jackass, and that they would have no difficulty in 
wheedling me into any thing. When it was settled 
that I was to turn my attention to farming, my 
friends looked round for a suitable place, and finally 
hit upon a fifty-acre lot which wasn't worth the gift, 
as far as getting a living from it was concerned, and 
advised me to purchase it. They were all good 
church-members, and I an ignorant infidel to their 
creeds ; and I didn't think it best to provoke their 
indignation as I should, provided I presumed to 
differ from their wise judgments about a farm. This 
being the case, I bought it, or rather they bought 
for me ; for I never saw the man who sold it, until 
months after it came into my possession. All I 
had to do was to give them the money ; and they, 
not I, took the deed in my name. As there were 
no buildings on the land, I commenced at once to put 
up a barn. My brother Henry, who lived across the 
road which divided our farms, kindly offered me a 
home in his house, until I could put up one for 
myself. I had made no calculations as to the real 
cost of getting up the necessary buildings for an 
establishment of that sort, having depended entirety 
upon the testimony of my officious friends, who were 
ever on hand with their advice. By the time I had 






FARMING. 129 

the barn ready for occupancy, I found that it would 
cost more money than I could spare, or, at any 
rate, wanted to invest in an enterprise, the success 
of which was extremely doubtful to my mind. If I 
had been a little less credulous in the first place, and 
depended more upon my own figures, instead of 
listening to the advice of my friends, the barn would 
never have been built. It cost about three times as 
much in money as I was told it would, besides my 
own time and labor. 

This revelation was a damper upon my going any 
farther in the building business, at least until I had 
ascertained somewhere within a thousand or two 
dollars how much the building would cost. In fact, 
when alone I seriously contemplated giving up the 
whole concern, and going to sea again. For^here I 
was, being all the time tormented to death with 
Tom, Dick, and Harry giving me unsolicited advice, 
no two of whom agreed upon any one thing of the 
slightest importance ; each wanting to be thought 
the wisest and most knowing. Sometimes I hardly 
knew whether I was on my head or heels, and often 
w;ent off a half-mile to hide myself amid the foliage 
of the friendly thicket, where I could have a 
breathing-spell. I finally concluded to stop just 
where I was, and let the farm, such as it was, take 
care of itself ; if I didn't, it with my friends would 
take care of me. This I told my advisers, and in 
such a way that they could not mistake me. But I 
wasn't to get off so easy with this experience in 
farming. After I had got my barn completed, I 
made the remark, that it would have been much 



130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

cheaper to have bought a place with buildings on it. 
This coming to the ears of a Mr. Jones, whose farm 
joined mine on the north, and he learning my deter- 
mination not to build any more, and wishing to sell 
his place, thought this a good opportunity to dispose 
of it. So he set about the operation in true Yankee 
style. In the first place, he talked with some of my 
friends about it, requesting them to induce me to 
talk with him in relation to a purchase ; telling them 
that it would be cheaper than to build, as he would 
sell his whole farm, improvements and all, for fifteen 
hundred dollars, which would be less than the cost 
of the buildings alone. I was such a poor diplomats, 
that the "bait" took; and I called upon Mr. Jones 
in relation to his place, and, without any circumlocu- 
tion, asked him his price. He pretended at first that 
he didn't want to sell, but if it would accommodate 
me he would sell, but doubted whether he could 
better himself. He also pretended that he had not 
any price fixed upon it. I told him I understood he 
offered it for fifteen hundred dollars. "Well, yes," 
he said, " I did say I would sell it for that amount, 
but had forgotten it until you brought it to my 
mind." He knew all the time he was lying on 
purpose to blind me ; and his hanging-back was for 
the same purpose. However, the bargain was made 
there and then ; and the next day the conveyance 
was made for fifteen hundred dollars. Now, then, I 
owned a farm with good well-finished buildings, a 
well of pure water, and quite a large orchard of 
grafted fruit, with the exception of a few trees. 
The next thing to do was to stock it, get farming 



FAPwMIXG. 131 

implements, &c. ; and, as I was non compos in the 
art of farming, I was advised to secure the services 
of the aforesaid John before it was too late. So 
down I go to his home, and engage him as before 
related. He knew every thing ; at least he succeeded 
in making me think so, and at once commenced 
operations. He made out a list of what he said was 
actually needed, which I procured without even a 
question; for now I had an autocrat for a master, 
whose word was law and gospel combined, for he was 
very pious. To doubt his infallibility was to lose his 
valuable services, which, according to the testimony 
of my friends, or rightfully his friends, could not be 
replaced on this planet. 

In due time every thing was procured, and the 
farm put in running order. John would be ever 
telling me to do this or that, and I did it. If he told 
me not to do a thing, I didn't do it. In fact, I was 
as patient and docile as the most abject slave. 
Things went on swimmingly through the summer and 
fall, with not a particle of friction ; and after every 
thing was harvested, the corn in the cribs, the wheat, 
oats, apples, and vegetables in their appropriate 
places, I made out a careful estimate of the products 
of the farm for the year just closed ; and, after de- 
ducting John's wages, there was not quite five dollars 
left to subsist on for a whole year ; to say nothing 
about my own labor, or the wear and tear of the 
implements, &c. 

When I showed the account current to my friends, 
they made me believe that that was as much as could 
be expected the first year, and assured me I would 



132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

at least do one hundred per cent better the succeed- 
ing year ; but when I told them that even then I 
would have but ten dollars for a whole year's work, 
and before that time my money would all be gone, 
and asked what should I do then, " Oh ! " says they, 
" something will turn up." Something did turn up 
the next spring, as will presently be seen. 

My money failed about the beginning of winter ; 
but by borrowing, begging, and running in debt, I 
managed to get through until spring. John stuck 
by as per contract ; but by the following spring it got 
noised all through the neighborhood, that I was out 
of money, and had hard work to squeeze through 
the past winter ; and the very friends who were so 
officious in advising and almost compelling me to 
purchase the farm, under the delusion that I could 
make a fortune out of it, were the very first ones, as 
is often the case, to turn round and call me a squan- 
derer. " It's just right for him. I knew it would be 
so," was bandied from one mouth to another. It 
was the common talk among my friends, that any 
one with a particle of sense could have made a good 
thing of it. Sometimes one would say, " I pity him," 
" I wish he had a better lookout," &c. At last I got 
hold of the gossip going round, but found it useless 
to make any comments as to who was the cause of 
my failure. Some advised John to leave, but he 
knew which side his bread was buttered. I wish he 
had left ; for he was nothing but a bill of costs to 
me, or, in other words, the farm was no better for 
his services, and I'm sure my pocket was no better. 
All that winter and spring I had indulged the hope 



FARMING. 133 

of something better turning up; precisely what it 
was, if any thing, I hadn't the remotest idea. My 
money was all gone, and with it my friends. We 
commenced our spring work as usual, and it had got 
into the first days of May, when one morning, about 
ten o'clock, while working alone, some twenty rods 
from the house, I heard some voice say, " Get ready, 
and start for Boston at once." With the words ring- 
ing in my ears, I laid down the hoe I was working 
with, and started for the house. Arriving there, I told 
my wife I was going away, and packed into an old 
leather valise a few shirts, socks, and dickies, and, 
bidding good-by to my wife, started for father's, some 
five miles distant. John was at work with the horses, 
at the farther end of the field when I left. Thus 
ended my farming operations. I still owned the farm ; 
but, as its disposal properly belongs to the succeeding 
chapter, I will end this at the moment when I started 
for Branch Mills, the residence of my father. 
12 






CHAPTER VIII. 

PURCHASING THE SHIP " MASSASOIT," AKD GETTING 
HEADY FOR SEA, 

As this chapter will prelude accounts of some of 
the quite remarkable scenes in my eventful history, 
I am induced to give the details of much which is 
of no importance onl} r so far as it is connected with 
the more prominent features of the story. Every 
incident I shall relate, excepting my hearing the 
voices, can be vouched for by persons now living, 
who participated in all things narrated within these 
pages. 

Resuming where I left off at the end of the pre- 
ceding chapter, I state that, after I found father, I 
told him I was going away, and wanted him to loan 
me thirteen dollars, and also to carry me to Hal- 
lowell, where I could take the boat for Boston; that 
I was now ready, and wanted to start at once, so as 
to get to Hallowell before the steamer left. He said 
he hadn't the money by him, but would borrow it. 
With this understanding we harnessed the horse to 
the wagon, and started off. We arrived in time : he 
having got the money from a friend of his on the 
way down river. 

Passengers for Boston then did not pay their pass- 

134 



GETTING READY FOR SEA. 135 

age-money until after leaving Bath, the last landing 
on the river. I was anxious to stop at Bath, if time 
would allow, to pay a bill of three dollars I was owing 
there. So, when the boat hauled alongside the wharf, 
I asked the mate if I would have time to go up town, 
telling him where I wanted to go. " Certainly," he 
responded : " we shall lay here two hours ; " adding, 
"You could go to Brunswick and back before we 
shall get away." With this assurance I took my 
valise, and started up town, found my creditor, a 
Mr. Hatch, paid him, and started immediately for the 
wharf. I did not stop a moment after I got through 
with my business : yet when I first got in sight of the 
boat her bow was swinging off. I knew it was use- 
less to try to get on board, and stood there, stone 
still, almost paralyzed ; for there was but one boat a 
week for Boston at that time, and no railroads or 
other conveyance except sailing vessels. I did not 
move out of my tracks for a few moments ; in the 
mean time I was running over in my mind the real 
situation of affairs. Here I was among strangers, 
with but ten dollars in my pocket. To go home and 
wait would take all my money, with no chance of 
getting more ; and, if I stopped at a hotel, the con- 
sequences would be alike fatal. After a little calm 
reflection, I concluded to find a cheap boarding-house, 
and run my chances until the boat was on her next 
trip. 

With this determination I slowly retraced my steps 
up town, watching for a sign with " hoarding " on its 
sides ; but found none until I got near the middle 
of the town, when I came to a little second or third 



136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

rate tavern, kept, as I found out afterwards, by a Mr. 
Beals. The moment I saw it, I felt impressed to make 
application for board, which the landlord said would 
be seven dollars a week : that would leave me three 
to get to Boston with, and fifty cents for incidentals, 
such as tobacco, &c. I engaged to stop one week ; 
and he assigned me a room at once, where I depos- 
ited my valise, and then got supper. 

After I got through my evening meal, I strolled 
down around the wharves, among the shipping. It 
being " knock-off" time with the carpenters and 
laborers, I met many going to their humble homes, 
apparently satisfied with their da}^s work, some carry- 
ing home an armful of wood, and by their jolly con- 
versation, intermixed with snatches of favorite songs, 
appeared perfectly happy. I compared my feelings 
with theirs, and could but notice the marked differ- 
ence; but being favored naturally with a happy, 
harmonious disposition, I quelled a momentary feel- 
ing of discontent, with the thought that, although 
tilings looked a little shaky in my present prospects, 
yet they might be infinitely worse. This reflection 
smoothed the momentary waves of adverse circum- 
stances, and all was quiet. 

By nine o'clock I had finished my walk, went to 
the hotel, and immediately to bed. After I had 
retired, my mind seemed perfectly at ease as to the 
future ; nothing seemed to mar its serenity. Being 
wide awake, my mind kept running from one thing 
to another, when suddenly it became, as it were, illu- 
minated. Many things flitted across my vision for 
a moment, and were gone. Among them was one, 



GETTING READY FOR SEA. 137 

which I had never even thought of, and which came 
to me in the form of a question. It was this : " Why 
wouldn't this be a good place to carry on the whaling 
business?" This question subsequently came into 
my mind for a moment while I was walking round 
the wharves ; but I treated it as we often do any 
random thought that may intrude itself upon us for 
a moment, which we think may not have any signifi- 
cance whatever, and let it pass away as it came. 
At length I began to consider that the business part 
of the community there were largely interested in 
ship-building, that they were decidedly a commercial 
people, largely interested in the freighting business ; 
and, as the whaling business was a lucrative one, I 
could see no reason why it couldn't be adopted as a 
part of the commercial business of the place. I con- 
cluded that, to start it, only needed some energetic 
movement in that direction. Up to this time, I 
hadn't thought of having any thing to do in getting it 
up. The fact that it required a large capital to begin 
with, was sufficient to check any such aspirations, 
had they presented themselves. While thinking the 
matter over, and weighing the natural advantages 
of the place for carrying on the business, and wish- 
ing I had the means to start it, I heard a voice say, 
« Try it." 

Although I had been in the habit of considering 
favorably any thing suggested from that mysterious 
source, here was a case where my judgment rebelled. 
What chance will there be of succeeding, supposing 
I do try it ? was the question I asked myself. I 
had no money, nor any visible way of obtaining any. 

12* 



138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

What few business friends I had would not feel justi- 
fied in risking their surplus capital in an experiment, 
the success of which was so questionable. I finally 
concluded that my voice had made a blunder this 
time ; or maybe I had made a mistake myself, and 
did not hear any thing, and was deluded to put that 
construction upon some fancy because the VOICE 
heretofore had always proved itself a real friend to 
me in tight places. I had no sooner settled in my 
mind the above explanation, than I heard it say, 
clear and distinctly, " Raise the means by subscrip- 
tion." This was a new idea; maybe I might, I 
thought. And straightway I got up, dressed, got 
some paper out of my valise, and pencil in hand 
commenced writing out a subscription paper, and 
wrote and altered more than twenty before I got 
one to exactly suit me ; which I did not accomplish 
until the next day at about ten, a.m. After I had 
got it to my liking, what should I do with it ? I knew 
nobody there, and nobody there knew me : it was not 
likely that people would subscribe to a paper of that 
kind, much less pay out any money to a person who 
was a perfect stranger to everybody in the city. 

However, when I got the instrument to suit me, 
as before stated, I started forth with no plan of 
procedure laid out. Seeing my landlord, Mr. Beals, 
standing alone on the piazza, without a premeditated 
thought I involuntarily walked up to him, and asked 
him who was the richest and most influential man 
in town. Without a moment's reflection, he an- 
swered, " Capt. John Patten." Upon inquiry, I found 
he lived " up at the North End." Off I started ; and, 



GETTING BEADY FOR SEA. 139 

as it was near three miles, I did not arrive at his 
house until after eleven o'clock. From the servant 
who answered the bell, I learned that Capt. Patten was 
in. She showed me into the parlor ; and, after wait- 
ing a few moments, a large, tall, well-built, splendid- 
looking man entered, whom I took to be the man I was 
looking for, which proved true. After ascertaining 
the above, I took out my paper, and handed it to him, 
observing that that would explain the object of my 
visit. He took it, and read it carefully over ; after 
doing which he looked at me with that peculiar 
expression one exhibits when occasion calls upon 
him to put a damper upon hopes, and to do it kindly. 
After looking at me a moment or two, with that 
, strange, sad expression of countenance, as if thinking 
what words would be most suitable to the occasion, 
he said, " Young man, I do not like to throw cold 
water upon any new enterprise, but am obliged to 
say, that in my opinion it would be impossible for 
any man, if he was ever so influential, to get up an 
enterprise of that kind here in the way proposed in 
your paper. And to present my reasons," he contin- 
ued, " let me tell you a story. A few years ago, a 
wealthy business man, who was extensively known 
as a man of probity and honor, circulating in the 
best society of the city, and universally loved and 
respected, got the same idea in regard to the whal- 
ing business that you have. He talked it up among 
his business friends, and tried to get their co-opera- 
tion, telling them that he had made it in his way to 
get posted up as to its pecuniary results, which would 
be highly satisfactory. And although he could have 



140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

fitted out the expedition with his own money, and, if 
he lost every dollar invested in the enterprise, it 
would not interfere with the continuance of his 
legitimate business, yet he wanted to make it a popu- 
lar affair by getting the thing up partly by subscrip- 
tion. He drew up a paper not dissimilar to yours, 
excepting that he obligated himself to furnish funds 
for one half of the enterprise out of his own private 
purse, if the business men of the city would the 
other half by subscription. Some few subscribed 
small sums, and for one whole year he tried his best 
to accomplish his object ; and at last, finding it would 
not go, gave it up. 

" In less than a year after this, another man, 
equally popular and responsible, made the same 
proposition, using every effort his immense influence 
could suggest; but after six months' trial he too 
gave it up. Since then, some three years, I have, 
heard nothing more in regard to it until now ; " con- 
tinuing, " As I said in the first place, I do not want to 
put a damper on your efforts ; but I tell you these 
things to show you the utter impossibility of carry- 
ing out your project through the means proposed in 
your paper." 

He looked at me as though trying to see the effect of 
his story. But, strange as it may appear, it had not 
the slightest effect upon my mind, that is, of a dis- 
couraging nature. Seeing that he was waiting for 
me to say something, I merely said, " If you will put 
your name down, I will try ; " not caring whether it 
was one dollar or one thousand, for in real truth I 
hadn't the remotest idea myself of succeeding : what 






GETTING BEADY FOR SEA. 141 

I had done was purely mechanical. It served to 
keep me busy, and that was all I expected. As I 
was an entire stranger there, I thought it was no- 
body's business how I occupied my time, as long as I 
didn't interfere with the rights of others. 

After writing his name on the paper, he looked up 
to me saying, " I was about to put down one thou- 
sand dollars ; but, if you lack another thousand to 
insure the enterprise, count on me for it." I said, 
" Whatever you would do under any circumstances, 
do it now." So, instead of one, he put down two 
thousand dollars. My paper called for but eighteen 
thousand, and his subscription made one-ninth of the 
entire sum. He told me afterwards, that he should 
have subscribed that amount if he had no way of 
meeting it, so sure he was that it would be the last 
of it. Before leaving, I asked him for the name of the 
next most influential man. He named Henry Tolman, 
pointing in the direction where Tolman was building 
a new house, and where I would be most likely to 
find him. Off I started, it being some two miles to 
the south and west of where I then was. After 
arriving I found Mr. Tolman smoking a cigar, and at 
the time when I approached him looking up to the top 
of his house, where some tinmen were at work on the 
roof, directing them as to how he wanted the work 
done. 

* As soon as I saw he was disengaged, I showed him 
my paper, without saying a word. He took it, and, 
seeing John Patten's name down for two thousand 
dollars, immediately put his down for the same, with- 
out apparently even reading what he was signing ; 



142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

obviously thinking, that, as Capt. Patten had sub- 
scribed so liberally, he need have no hesitancy in 
doing the same. 

After he had subscribed, I asked him the same 
question I did Capt. Patten when I left him. Mr. 
Tolman told me to call upon Capt. James Patten, a 
brother of the first subscriber, who with the same 
alacrity as the last one put down one thousand dol- 
lars ; making, in the three, over one-fourth of all I 
called for. 

Capt. James Patten sent me to a Mr. Hyde, a 
hardware dealer, who put down five hundred dollars, 
and asked no questions. So I went on, getting direc- 
tions from the last one whom to apply to next, and I 
never made an application that was refused ; every 
one subscribed according to his means and inclina- 
tion, seldom even looking very carefully at what he 
put his name to, depending entirely upon the well- 
known sagacity and business qualifications of those 
who subscribed before him. 

Thus I went on, and in less than two weeks I had 
$19,950 subscribed by responsible men, which, as will 
be seen, was nearly two thousand more than I asked 
for. I then put up notices in different public places, 
requesting the stockholders to meet at Samuel Stin- 
son's counting-room, and organize. This announce- 
ment operated like an electric shock among them, 
for they never expected to hear from me after they 
had put down their names. However, they all met 
as per request, and a jollier set of men I never saw. 
It seemed a complete surprise to all, with a few 
exceptions. When they began to arrive I could 



GETTING READY FOR SEA. 143 

hear the question as acquaintances met, " Why, you 
here ? You in this ? " Capt. John Patten was one 
of the first on the grounds who, after entering the 
office and not seeing me, asked Mr. Stinson where I 
was, and said, "I want to see him." I heard the 
question and answer, being then behind the door 
blacking my boots. At first I thought he might be 
dissatisfied about something that I had done, but was 
soon convinced to the contrary ; for, as Mr. Stinson 
pointed to where I was, he came to me, holding out 
his hand in the pleasantest way possible, and said, 
laughing, "I congratulate you upon your success. I 
never expected to see you after you left my house, 
but you have taken us all by surprise. In fact, I 
doubt whether there was another man in the world, 
who, under much more favorable circumstances, could 
have done what we all thought an impossibility ; for 
our best men had failed in getting one-half the stock 
taken up after a whole year's effort. At any rate, I 
heartily congratulate you, and will do all in my 
power to assist the enterprise." 

After a sufficient number had arrived, I called the 
gentlemen to order, stating in a few words the object 
of the meeting, and requested them to select one to 
preside until the officers were chosen. Leaving out 
all details, the proper officers were selected, a presi- 
dent, vice-president, and five directors, to take 
charge of the business for the company, which was 
named " The Bath Whaling Company." At this 
meeting it was unanimously voted that I should take 
charge of fitting out the expedition, and command 
the ship when ready for sea. The affair had been 



144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

gotten up so quietly, that hardly any outside of those 
engaged in it knew any thing about it ; and scarcely 
one, even among the subscribers, until after the 
meeting, knew my name, or what I had to do with 
the business. The next day the papers came out 
with very flattering puffs for me, eulogized me as one 
endowed with wondrous persuasive powers, because 
able to get up the expedition entirely by subscription. 
To say the least, I felt highly flattered. But there 
was one consideration that gave me many uneasy 
thoughts. Up to this time, no questions had been 
asked as to who I was, which I expected would come 
before they would intrust me with so much property. 
I thought that as business men they would want to 
know something about my qualifications to take 
charge of such an operation. How did they know, 
excepting from my own lips, that I had ever been 
a-whaling ? I had no one to refer to nearer than 
Nantucket ; and there, even, I was not known except- 
ing as one who had gone several voyages : the cap- 
tain and officers with whom I had sailed were most 
of them at sea. These thoughts haunted me night 
and day, after the meeting resolved to prosecute the 
enterprise, until I had my papers from the Custom 
House, duly signed and countersigned by the proper 
officials. Strange as it may seem, the question was 
never asked, and all they knew about me was from 
myself. 

All things being settled, as far as the preliminaries 
for the voyage were concerned, we set about to find 
a suitable vessel for our purpose. 1 At last we hit 

1 I agreed to take one-eighth of any vessel we might purchase ; 



GETTING BEADY EOR. SEA. 145 

upon a large double-decked brig of three hundred 
and eight tons register, called the " Massasoit," 
belonging to Samuel Stinson & Co., and Capt. 
Thomas Trott who commanded her. The purchase 
was made ; but she was under a charter to carry a 
load of pine lumber to the Western Islands, which 
would occupy some two months. 

While she was gone on that trip, I was busily 
engaged in getting the necessary outfit ready on her 
return. In this I was unusually successful. The 
ship " Science " of Portland, Me., had made three 
unsuccessful voj^ages in the whaling business, which 
so disheartened the owners, that they determined to 
give up further efforts in the business, and had ad- 
vertised to sell all her whaling-gear, boats, &c, at 
auction. This was most opportune for our jenter- 
prise, as we doubtless could purchase for half price, 
or less, all our whaling-gear, which was a large 
part of the outfit. When the time fixed for the sale 
had arrived, attended by one of the directors of the 
company I went to Portland, and succeeded more 
favorably than we anticipated. Before this, our ves- 
sel had returned, and was undergoing some altera- 
tions and repairs. One of the alterations was, in 
changing her from a brig to a bark, as in the latter 
" rig " she would be much more serviceable and 
handy for our purpose, than in the former. 

In fitting away an expedition of this kind, in a 
new place, where every thing has to be manufac- 

and with my commissions, and five hundred dollars which I got 
through a mortgage on my farm, I managed to pay up my interest 
in her. 

13 



146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

tured, and everybody is ignorant of the business, it 
takes much more time than where workmen under- 
stand what is wanted, and know how to do it : con- 
sequently it was not until the 10th of November 
that the crew was got on board, and the ship ready 
to haul into the stream. 

I didn't go home, nor let my family know where I 
was or what I was doing, until the 1st of November, 
when I had made sure that I should command the 
ship, by getting papers from the Custom-House, in 
which I was named as commander of the bark 
"Massasoit;" then having business connected with 
the ship, at Augusta, some twelve miles from home, 
I made my appearance there unexpectedly. Before 
telling my wife what I had been up to, I went over 
to brother Henry's, near by, for I wanted to secure 
him as chief mate, I knowing he was a most efficient 
officer, and an excellent whaleman ; which latter 
qualification is of more practical importance, in a 
voyage of this kind, than all others combined. 
When I told him what I had been doing, that I had 
a ship almost ready for sea, and that I wanted him 
for my first officer, he says, " You lie." Producing 
my papers convinced him ; and we started immedi- 
ately for father's house, arriving there just as they 
were sitting down to supper. They making way for 
us, we joined them at the festive board. After we 
had submitted to the religious rite of sitting half an 
hour or so in silence, before partaking of a mouth-] 
ful, father asked me where I had been, and what I 
had been doing? I told him I hadn't been far, 
waiting for Henry to tell them, as agreed upon. 



GETTING BEADY FOB SEA. 147 

Henry answered for me, telling father that I had 
bought a ship, and was most ready for sea, and that 
he was going mate of her. Father says, " I don't 
believe it." The proof being produced, I saw father 
lay down his knife and fork ; and after a moment or 
two he said, " I shouldn't be surprised to hear that 
David was crossing the Alps with an army of men 
yet." My farming operation, as before related, was 
enough to satisfy them of my utter inability to man- 
age any business of the least importance ; and hence 
the surprise. When news of it got noised through 
the neighborhood, as I afterwards learned, it only pro- 
duced ridicule and laughter at my wild experiment. 
Some said, " If he couldn't manage a farm with a 
host of friends to assist him, how can he command 
a large ship ? Bah ! it's all nonsense." This and 
much more was the constant gossip of my friends. 
Some said they didn't believe I was going in a ship 
at all ; and, if I was, it was in some menial station, 
&c. The old adage, " They that laugh last, laugh 
best," proved true in this case ; for I not only com- 
manded for the voyage, but what was more, I made 
it a lucrative operation for the owners, and myself 
as well. 

One more incident in this connection, before I go 
to sea, and I am done with operations on the land 
until the voyage is ended. 

It will be recollected that after I bought a piece 
of land to make a farm of, and finding that to put 
up buildings would cost more than the farm adjacent, 
on which was a good house well finished, with barn 
and outbuildings, &c, and that I could get the land 



148 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

for nothing, I bought this farm, paying what I 
could, and giving notes for the balance, secured by a 
mortgage on the whole. One of these notes was- 
already due ; and Mr. Jones, of whom I bought the 
farm, finding I was going to sea, watched for my 
coming home to bid my folks good-by just before 
sailing. Finding out after my arrival when I should 
leave home, he preceded me to Augusta, got out a 
writ or something else, put it into the hands of a 
sheriff ; and he and the officer watched for me at the 
bridge spanning the river at Augusta, knowing I 
should cross there. When I went on to the bridge, 
the officer served a process on me, saying I was his 
prisoner. Upon inquiry I found out the author of 
my new trouble. The officer took me directly into 
some kind of a court, and there I met Mr. Jones. I 
had never been arrested before, nor seen a court- 
house. I felt terribly bad. Here I was a prisoner, 
Avhile my ship, with her crew on board, was lying in 
the stream waiting for me. What should I do? 
These thoughts were weighty ones for me at that 
particular juncture of my life. The fact was, by the 
time I got into the court-room, seeing so many 
lawyers, and every thing so solemn and formal, the 
judge sitting so dignified and important on the 
judicial bench, I became so frightened that I hardly 
knew whether I was on my head or heels. I was 
completely demoralized. 

The case came on soon after I entered. Mr. 
Jones's lawyer opened the case, talking over some- 
thing I did not understand. After he got through, 
the judge asked who was the respondent in this case. 



GETTING READY FOR SEA. 149 

Of course I was ; but I felt so confused, I didn't 
know what he was driving at. Somehow or other, 
something was said, what I know not, that convinced 
me that what he said meant, Who is the culprit ? At 
any rate, I ventured to say I was. By this time every 
thing was confused, at least I was : every thing, court- 
room, judge, and jury, seemed whirling round. This 
lasted but a moment, when the judge asked, Have 
you any counsel? I had sense enough to say, No. I 
suppose I was looking bad, for the judge asked me 
very pleasantly to explain matters. His kind words 
re-assured me, and I went on and told the whole 
story, — how that I had a ship, with the crew aboard, 
waiting for me, and that Mr. Jones knew I was going 
to sea, and that, if he had said a word about it when 
I was where I had friends, I could have arranged it, 
if any thing was amiss ; but I had thought that, as 
he was well secured, he had no thought of stopping 
me. He then asked Mr. Jones if the farm was not 
worth what it was mortgaged for. " Certainly," says 
Mr. Jones. " Very well, then. Give me the notes 
and mortgage, and I will pay you the balance due, 
and relieve this young man from a position which 
you ought to blush for putting him into." I was 
relieved. The business was all fixed up in a few 
minutes, when Judge Fuller, turning to me said, 
" Capt. Densmore, I congratulate myself for this 
accidental acquaintance, also congratulate yon on 
your success ; and when you return call and see me." 
Then taking my hand he said, " Now go, and may 
you succeed, as I believe you rightly merit, and may 
old Neptune smile with favor on his young protege" 

13* 



150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

With this I left, but being too late for the boat con- 
cluded to go up home, and report the day's adven- 
ture, but more to show up this Quaker Christian. 
When I told father the story, he could hardly believe 
it, and wondered how " Richard could do such a 
mean act." The next day started for Bath with a 
light heart, and arrived before night. I found that 
some of the men had deserted, which delayed me a 
day or two ; but on the 19th of November, 1842, 
went to sea with light winds from the south-west. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FOURTH WHALING VOYAGE, IN SHIP " MASSASOIT." 

My crew all told, including officers, amounted to 
thirty-four men, mostly foreigners. They represented 
all grades of society, some having held important 
positions among their fellows; but dissipation, one 
way and another, caused them to fall from their 

high estate. My second officer, Mr. , had 

commanded several large ships on foreign voyages, 
and was a splendid sailor. As a whole, the crew was 
an average one for a whaler. A large per cent of 
them were " green hands," who, as soon as we got to 
sea, were sick ; and, the old sailors being drunk, the 
chances for taking in or making sail were not very 
flattering. 

After we got outside, the wind was light all day 
from the eastward ; the weather looked unsettled and 
threatening all round the compass. Most of the old 
sailors being intoxicated, and the " green hands " sea- 
sick, I took the precaution, just before sunset, to 
double-reef the topsails, take in the mainsail and jib, 
and be prepared for a sudden change of wind, which, 
from appearances, was not unlikely, especially at 
that time of the year. It was well that I took- these 
precautionary steps ; for a little after two, A.M., I was 

151 



152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

in the cabin looking on the chart to ascertain what 
course would clear the banks, if, as I expected, the 
wind should come suddenly from the north-west, and 
I felt the ship gently careen over to starboard. 
What wind there had been through the night, thus 
far, came from the eastward ; the ship was braced 
up on the starboard tack, heading north. Looking 
at the tell-tale compass overhead, I found the wind 
came from the north-west. I jumped on deck, and 
found her hard aback, fore and aft. I allowed her 
to swing round, until, bracing round the yards, she 
was going ahead, then settled the topsails on the cap, 
hauled out the rigging, and kept her before the wind. 
Although the topsails were double-reefed, it was day- 
light before the other reef was put in, owing to the 
intoxication of the crew. 

The next morning I sent the mate into the fore- 
castle, with instructions to take every keg or jug that 
contained liquor of any kind, and bring it aft ; which 
he executed with no difficulty, as most of them were 
in a sleepy stupor. The gale increased as the night 
advanced, and the only thing we could do was to 
keep her before it ; and it was not until the third day 
that the storm abated, after it had carried us clear 
of the coast. Now we could take our leisure in put- 
ting things in order, and getting ready for whaling. 
The third night out, and while the gale was at its 

height, the second officer, Mr. , came to my 

state-room, and told me some of the men were in a 
fit, and he thought dying. I got on deck as soon as 
possible, and at once divined the cause to be the 
sudden breaking-off from their grog after long in- 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 153 

diligence. The old cooper was the worst off of any ; 
he was on his back sprawling round on deck, mut- 
tering incoherent words, and frothing at the mouth 
like a mad dog. Although I had never seen any one 
suffering with delirium tremens, yet I seemed to 
know the remedy. I sent for some liquor, sat down 
by the side of the old cooper, got his head in my lap, 
and poured through his set teeth some of the rum. 
In a few minutes he revived : the snakes and devils, 
which he persisted in saying were trying to strangle 
him, left. I served three other affected ones with 
the same antidote. After this, I served them with 
liquor every day, gradually tapering off, and in a 
week or so they became all right. I did not stop at 
the Western Islands, on account of its being winter, 
and the difficulty of landing. When we had been 
at sea about two weeks, I found the vessel did not 
work well ; we couldn't keep her to the wind ; when 
braced sharp up she would constantly fall off, owing 
to a lack of after-sail. It will be recollected that 
when we bought the vessel she was a full-rigged brig. 
In changing her to a bark we had to do away with 
the large trysail, and substitute in its place a small 
spanker, less than one-eighth the dimension of the 
former. Of course this made a vast difference in 
balancing the sails, when close hauled on a wind. To 
remedy this defect, one of two things must be done, 
— either put on a mizzen topsail, or else take out 
the mizzenmast and put on the trysail again. As I 
couldn't do the latter, for want of materials, I decided 
to adopt the former. This being settled, we went to 
work making the necessary sails, which we soon com- 



154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

pleted, when, taking a spare topsail-yard for crotchet- 
yard, and a topgallant-yard for mizzen topsail-yard, 
we soon effected the needed change, after which 
the ship worked beautifully. As I was agent for 
both owners and underwriters, I had the right to 
make any change for the safety of the ship that I 
saw necessary ; and although this right was not 
originally questioned, yet, as will be seen further 
along, the underwriters made a question of it in law, 
with the hope of getting rid of paying insurance 
claimed by the owners, because of her getting ashore. 
As I had determined not to touch at the Western 
Islands, for reasons before stated, I shaped my course 
directly to the Cape de Verd Islands, situated near 
the west coast of Africa, and where we arrived in 
about three weeks after leaving home. Here we left 
letters at the American consul's, on one of the prin- 
cipal islands, to be forwarded home. 

The next morning, and while some of the islands 
were still in sight, an incident transpired which I 
think worthy of recording, as it will be apparent 
that some unseen power had a hand in quelling what 
might have proved a serious affair. 

Some of the broken down " has-beens" after their 
rum had failed them, and their reason had returned, 
found out for the first time that they were bound 
round Cape Horn on a whale-ship. The contempla- 
tion of this was more than they could reconcile with 
their ideas of freedom ; and they set about getting up 
a project, which, if successful, would relieve them of 
their obligations. Their plan was, as I subsequently 
learned, to mutinize, dispose of me and the first 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 155 

officer, compel the second mate to take the ship into 
some port, dispose of the ship and cargo, divide the 
proceeds among themselves, and live at ease the rest 
of their lives. The mode of procedure to bring it 
about, as agreed upon between the conspirators, was 

for Bill the steward, who had free access fore 

and aft, and who slept in one of the staterooms 
in the cabin, to get into a wrangle with me or the 
first mate, when they would hop in, as they termed 
interfering in Bill's favor, and in the melee dispose 
of me and the mate, and, if they were ever appre- 
hended, would swear that it was accidental when in 
the general fight. This was all very well \ and, if 
there had been no resistance, would have fulfilled 
their hopes in getting possession of the ship. But 
they had " reckoned without their host." They had 
made all their preparations with a good deal of care ; 
secured all the boarding-pikes and boarding-knives, 
and taken out both pump-brakes, so that we would 
have nothing to defend ourselves with when the 
onslaught was made. They had even got ready an 
empty sixty-gallon cask, with which to block up the 
cabin gangway, so that whoever was in the cabin 
could not come to our relief. All these preparations 
were made without the slightest knowledge on my 
part. In fact, I supposed that they were unusually 
pleased with their treatment, as I had determined 
before I left home to follow a more sympathizing 
course than was usual on such voyages, and wished 
them to consider themselves men in every sense of 
the word, and that they were just as much entitled to 
consideration as the officers, also that nothing but 



156 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

more favorable circumstances would have enabled the 
officers to occupy the positions they filled. I tried 
every possible means to instil these sentiments into 
their minds, that would not interfere with the disci- 
pline actually necessary for the success of the voyage. 
Their food was precisely the same as ours. I took 
extra pains to see that their " grub " was well cooked; 
and I furnished them every morning with " soft 
tack" (hot biscuits) for breakfast, a thing scarcely 
before heard of in any ship, and more especially a 
whaleman. Notwithstanding all this, they made 
themselves believe that they were a very badly used 
set of men ; and, after talking over their grievances, 
concluded to carry into effect the foregoing plan, and 
thus free themselves from further obligations. I had 
a brother and a cousin in the forecastle, and a brother 
and a cousin among the officers, first and third mates ; 
hence it required the strictest secrecy among the 
conspirators to mature their plan. 

The steward (Bill ) belonged to a wealthy, 

aristocratic family, and but for the continued solici- 
tation of his friends, and especially his father, I 
would not have taken him. I told him and them, 
over and over again, what he would have to submit 
to ; and that after the novelty had worn off I feared 
he would become dissatisfied, discontented, and make 
trouble for himself and inharmony with all hands, 
which latter would be very detrimental to the success 
of the voyage, for that depended much upon the free 
co-operation of all hands. 

On the morning referred to, while walking the 
deck after breakfast, and after Bill and the cabin- 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 157 

b }y had eaten, Bill brought up the table-cloth, as is 
usual, to shake the crumbs overboard. When he 
was doing this I heard something rattle like knives 
and forks ; and as he was very careless, having lost 
overboard knives, forks, and spoons before, I thought 
the rattling indicated another draft upon our culinary 
inplements. I spoke to him pleasantly, saying, " Be 
careful, Bill, or soon we shall have nothing to eat 
with." Upon hearing this, he turned round, saying 
in an excited tone, " By G — d, I can pay for them if 
I do." Up to this moment I hadn't the slightest sus- 
picion that any thing was wrong ; but, the moment Bill 
answered as he did, the whole thing was laid open to 
my mind as clear as though I had been a listener to 
all their plans. I was not frightened, but became 
rather more quiet and decided than usual. He had 
hardly got the words out, before I had him by the 
collar, not the least angry nor excited. I laid him 
down on deck easily, alongside of the main-hatch. I 
placed his feet side by side, merely observing, " As 
you value your life, Billy, don't you move a finger." 
I seemed to be somebody else, as I really was, but 
didn't know it then. The ship was going along with 
all sail set, wind light, and smooth sea, when I heard 
myself issue order after order, one to call up all 
hands, another to take in sail and haul aback the 
main-yard. What it all meant I did not know, still 
I was unable to resist doing so. The moment Bill 
was laid on deck, the news was passed into the fore- 
castle ; and, when the mate called all hands, they all 
came rushing along aft on the weather-side of the 
deck. I met them at the try-works, and told them 



158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

to go back, and come aft to leeward, saying firmly, 
" This is my side of the deck." They all stopped as 
suddenly as though they had brought up against an 
impassable barrier, and came aft on the lee-side to 
haul up the main-sail and back the main-yard. While 
this was being done, Bill lay there quiet as a lamb, 
hardly daring to breathe, the conspirators passing 
and repassing him several times, without apparently 
noticing him. After these several orders were com- 
pleted, I told the men to stand side by side with their 
backs leaning against the lee-rail. I whispered to the 
mate, telling him to take the wheel, and not to speak, 
concluding with saying, "I can manage this affair 
alone." While the men were arranging themselves, 
I told the cabin-boy Tom Mars, a lad of some ten 
years, to bring up my pistol, that he would find it in 
the back side of my berth. The men, observing my 
whispering something to the mate, and Tom handing 
me the pistol, which I put in my pocket, began to 
think that I knew all about their plot, and was pre- 
pared to meet it. When all hands were standing side 
by side, I commenced aft ; and, where one foot was not 
precisely in line with the other, I gently tapped it with 
the toe of my shoe, all the time talking to them, some- 
times stroking them caressingly down. When I had 
got about two-thirds towards the forward end of the 
string, I came to a man whose real name was Samuel 
Austin, hailing from Newport, R.L, but was familiarly 
called " Tom Pepper," from his habit of telling big 
stories ; there being a legend among sailors, that, 
once upon a time, a sailor with the above name died, 
and went straight to hell, but was such a notorious 



FOTTBTH VOYAGE WHALING. 159 

liar that the Devil kicked him out ; hence Sam was 
dubbed Tom Pepper. Poor Tom's legs were trem- 
bling fearfully. I stroked him down, and asked him 
what made him tremble so. He made no answer, and 
I passed on to the next. After I had gone the entire 
length of the line, I made a stump speech, telling 
them what they had intended to do, with as much 
precision as they could themselves. I had never 
heard that they had said that a man shouldn't be 
tied up in that ship, until I heard myself say it. I 
told them they had said thus, and, continuing, I said 
I had never thought of such a thing, but, " because 
you have said it shouldn't be done, I will do it." 
Suiting the action to the word, I said, " Billy, jump 
up here, my boy, and let your friends see me make a 
spread-eagle of you," a phrase used by boatswains on 
men-of-war when they tie a man up for a flogging. I 
sent Tom the cabin-boy to the boatswain's locker 
for a ball of spun yarn, cut off two short pieces, 
made Bill hold up his hands, and I gently tied them 
to the main rigging ; then I turned up his shirt over 
his shoulders, as would be done if he were to be 
flogged. After doing that, I called their attention 
to it, assuring them I couldn't be induced to strike a 
man unless in self-defence, in which case there was 
no telling what might be done. 

After this speech was over, I set Bill free, dismissed 
the crew, braced forward, and stood on our course 
again, as though nothing had happened. Thus ended 
this threatened mutiny, through the intervention of 
my spirit-guides, who really managed the whole affair 
through me ; proving, to me at least, that but for 



160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

such assistance what ended so peacefully might 
otherwise have been fraught with consequences 
fearful to contemplate. It proved, without a perad- 
venture, who was the real " boss," and that no 
scheming or threats could intimidate him ; and there- 
fore it was well that it happened. 

I was not conscious of any assistance, although I 
knew I was not in my normal condition ; but, as I 
had been so hundreds of times before, I thought 
nothing of it. I distinctly remember, that after 
ev^ry thing had got a-going as usual, in thinking over 
the affair, I compared myself with Gen. Jackson, 
who, when fighting Indians in Florida, had two 
regiments of the regular army, with their officers, 
become disaffected from some cause or other, actually 
start on their homeward march. The general, 
hearing of it, jumped upon a horse, galloped in front 
of the column, and halted it : then taking a pistol 
out of the holster, he threatened to shoot the first 
man that advanced a step farther. The general told 
them to go to their barracks ; and they did as quietly 
as lambs, and there was no more trouble. Now, the 
general probably thought that it was his own prowess 
alone, that effected such a marvellous change in the 
firmly made-up resolution of those two regiments of 
determined men. What, I ask, could one man do 
with a single pistol in physical combat with two 
thousand men, with as many loaded rifles ? At most 
he could have killed scarcely more than one man, 
before he would have been riddled with rifle-balls. 
No, it was not Gen. Jackson per se. Through him a 
host of spirits pressed back the mutinous spirit, and 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 161 

restored order. So it was with me, although I didn't 
know it ; and so it has proved many times before and 
since. They, this band of spirits, influenced both me 
and the mutineers, — me with undaunted courage, 
them with fear ; because they knew themselves to be 
in the wrong, while I felt strong in the right, which 
consideration would tend to dishearten them, espe- 
cially when they saw so much cool determination on 
my part. 

Nothing more of interest happened on our way 
towards Cape Horn, until off Rio Janeiro, S.A., 
when the third mate and one of the crew forward 
were very sick. As I failed entirely to relieve them, 
I deemed it best to go in somewhere for medical 
assistance. At first I thought of going into Rio 
Janeiro, but upon consideration concluded to go into 
St. Catharine's instead, some seventy miles to the 
south of Rio, to save expenses. I did not fully make 
up my mind to go to St. Catharine's, until we were 
near the entrance to the former place ; then, at 
about four, p.m., up wheel and started, and about 
three, p.m., came to anchor under the guns of a fort 
that commanded the entrance to the regular anchor- 
age on the opposite side of the fort from where we 
were anchored. At daylight the comidant of the 
fort came on board, when we got under way, and, with 
him as pilot, were soon anchored in the proper place. 
As soon after as possible, I took Mr. Crosman, the 
third mate, who was very sick, in a boat, and started 
for the city, some twelve miles distant ; there being 
not sufficient water for any thing but vessels of light 
draught to get nearer the city than where we lay. 

14* 



162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I got to the city about eleven, A.m., and immediate- 
ly applied to the American consul for a physician. 
He procured a German, who, after examining the 
sick man, shook his head, muttering some unintelligi- 
ble lingo, which I took to mean a very had case. He 
gave him a dose of medicine as black as tar, which 
the sick man threw up the moment it entered the 
stomach. He gave the second dose, which did not 
come up. Poor Frank walked round with me all the 
afternoon until four, p.m., when I got him into a good 
boarding-house, where I left him, and his brother to 
take care of him. Promising to come to the city on 
the morrow, I left for the ship. After I got on 
board, found the other sick man still worse. The 
next morning the wind was blowing so strong I 
dared not leave the ship ; but, the man was so sick, I 
felt anxious to get him to the city. I sent the mate, 
with the man on a mattress in the boat, to get there 
as soon as possible, and said that I would follow at 
noon if the wind lessened. 

He started ; and, before he had pulled half the 
distance, the man died ; and, when he got to town, 
he found that Mr. Crosman had also died at two 
o'clock that morning. Through the American consul 
he procured coffins ; and, as it was hot weather, the 
authorities compelled them to bury the two men at 
once. The mate made two attempts to get the news 
to the ship so that we could attend the funeral ; but 
the strong wind rendered the attempts abortive. I 
was much surprised when they came alongside that 
night with the sad news that both were buried. I 
went to town the next day, settled up the bills, pro- 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 163 

cured some fresh provisions and vegetables, got my 
clearance-papers from the Custom-House, and next 
day went to sea, heading once more for Cape Horn. 

Nothing transpired worthy of recording on our 
southward voyage, until we were off the mouth of the 
River La Plata, where we encountered a terrible gale, 
the ship laboring very hard, her upper works twisting 
and working like a raft. The decks leaked, and at 
one time I entertained serious apprehensions whether 
she would weather it or not. 

After the gale subsided I spoke a new whale-ship 
outward bound. I have forgotten her name. The 
captain came on board, and spent the day with me. 
I consulted with him about risking a passage round 
the cape. He advised me not to risk it, as it would 
be so late before I could get up with it ; and with the 
unanimous advice of all my officers I determined to 
come north, and do the best I could in a milder 
latitude. Accordingly, after parting with him I 
turned her head towards the north, concluding to 
cruise the season out off Rio Janeiro, where we suc- 
ceeded in procuring some three hundred barrels of 
sperm oil. 

We then started north again ; this time to cruise 
a few weeks off Charleston, S. C, where there is 
good whaling at the season of the year we should 
probably arrive, then go to Fayal, one of the Western 
Islands, recruit ship, go another cruise, and then, 
home. Before we left for the north this time, an 
incident occurred which I will relate ; not that there 
is any real importance attached to it, other than as 
it shows what an influence for good or evil one can 



164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

exert over others strongly impregnated with all kinds 
of vice and dissipation. One night when the ship 
was heading to the northward, as I was walking the 
deck, my mind in its usual quiet, happy state, all at 
once I saw, off north-west from us, stretching across 
the heavens, a crimson curtain, suspended on a gold 
rod, with gold rings similar to common curtain rings. 
Although thousands of miles away, I saAv them as 
distinctly as if they had been only a few feet distant. 
After looking at the scene a moment, I saw two 
hands, back to back, thrust out from behind the 
centre of the curtain, as if getting ready to pull it 
apart both ways. After waiting long enough for me 
to see it, the curtain was pushed each way until 
gathered in graceful folds at the end of the rod. 
When the curtain was being drawn aside, I could 
hear the rings rattle on the wire as distinctly as if 
they had been in a room where I was sitting. Almost 
instantly after the curtain was drawn aside, twenty- 
four females stepped out from behind the curtain, 
and stood as if on terra firma, facing me. They 
were 'of all ages ; their dresses, although each different 
from the others, yet in colors and general make-up 
harmonized so beautifully, that the presentation 
passes all description. After remaining a few mo- 
ments in the position first seen, the vision vanished 
from view. 

I did not recognize any of the faces, although I 
knew my sister Esther was one of the number. What 
it all meant, if any thing, I hadn't the remotest idea ; 
but it opened up a new train of thought, which re- 
sulted in changing all hands from their usual habits 



FOUETH VOYAGE WHALING. 165 

of profanity and their drinking proclivities. Al- 
though I was an infidel, in one sense of that often 
illy applied word, yet the vision, coupled with the 
religious teachings of my beloved mother, set me to 
thinking seriously ; and, the more I thought, the more 
I realized that possibly there might be more in 
religion than I had given it credit for. At all events, 
one thing was sure, and that was, it would do no 
harm to " tack ship " in social habits, and run in an 
opposite direction. I made up my mind, there and 
then, to try it, and forthwith spoke to the officers 
about my cogitations, also my determination to give 
reform a fair trial. They fell in with my ideas at 
once ; and, it being Saturday night, I called all hands 
into the cabin, and rehearsed to them the above 
thoughts. No objection being offered, I requested 
them to assemble in the cabin the next morning at 
half-past ten, a.m., and we would inaugurate on the 
sabbath morning attempts to do better ; and dis- 
missed them, requesting them to bring along any 
hymn-books they might possess. 

At the appointed time all hands, with the excep- 
tion of one man at the wheel, congregated in the 
cabin ; and as the ship was purposely put under easy 
sail the night before, to remain so through Sunday, 
there was nothing to disturb the harmony of our first 
meeting. I talked about what interested me most 
just then ; next all hands joined in singing several 
pennyroyal hymns ; then I read a chapter in the Bible, 
and dismissed the meeting, all seeming pleased with 
the new order of things. 

Consequent upon my request for hymn-books, I 



166 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

was astonished to find that every man in the ship, 
with the exception of myself and relative, and two 
Portuguese sailors, brought aft an old Methodist 
"pennyroyal" hymn-book, given them by a mother 
or sister as a remembrancer. After this, instead of 
hearing obscene, vulgar songs, the ear was greeted 
every evening forward with hymns and songs of 
praise. These exercises were continued through the 
entire voyage, every Sunday morning and evening, 
with a very few exceptions. In addition to this, I 
drew up a pledge to abstain from drinking intoxicat- 
ing liquor ; and every man on the ship, headed by 
myself, signed it, and to it they rigidly adhered 
while with me. Though they were subjected to 
temptation many times, not a drop was taken by one 
of them to my knowledge. 

Although this radical change in our every-day 
mode of speech and living made not the slightest 
difference in my belief, as far as being saved from 
the pangs of hell was concerned, on any other ground 
than our own individual motives, acts, and senti- 
ments, yet the contemplation that I was the direct 
means of making others more orderly and happy, was 
a source of extreme satisfaction. 

Some amusing incidents transpired among that 
hardy set of men before they had got accustomed to 
the new order of things. They were so used to bolt- 
ing out hard words when expressing themselves to 
one another, upon different subjects, that it was some 
time before they could rid themselves of their pro- 
fane habits, 

One evening soon after our devotions commenced, 



FOTTKTH VOYAGE WHALING. 167 

an old Scotch sailor and a Portuguese were discussing 
in an earnest manner what was necessary to be done 
in order to secure an entrance into heaven. The old 
Scotchman was telling Jose, his companion, that 
" everybody must be born again." — " How can that 

be done ? " says Jo. — " D d if I know," says Jack ; 

" but it must be done, else we shall all go to hell 
together. Didn't ye not mind what the old man 
(meaning me) read out of the Bible only this even- 
ing, that unless ye be born again ye cannot enter 
the kingdom of heaven ? " This was a puzzle to 
poor Jo, in fact to both of them. After a brief 
silence, says Jo, " Then I'll go to hell as sure as God ; 
for my mother is dead and gone, and I can't be born 
again." — " So is mine," responded old Jack : " my 
mother died when I was a little child." 

I was a silent listener to the above ; and, although 
they talked in a suppressed tone, I heard every word 
distinctly. The poor fellows were very much dis- 
couraged at this impassable barrier in their way to 
the Celestial City. At our next meeting, in my re- 
marks, I took occasion to comment upon some mys- 
terious passages, and, among the rest, the one that 
caused Jack and Jo so much uneasiness. 

In due time we arrived off Charleston, S.C., 
where we cruised some four or five weeks, when we 
headed for Fayal to recruit ship. Two of the men 
were sick when we arrived at the island; one a Gay- 
head Indian, the other an Englishman. I got them 
both into a hospital, detailing two of the crew to wait 
upon them. The Indian lived but three days, and 
was buried; the other recovered. Having secured 



168 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

all our necessaries, and given the men a couple of 
days ashore, got under way, and went to sea. I had 
determined to go into the Gulf of Mexico, and finish 
our voyage there, where we arrived in due time. 
After cruising here some four months, and our pro- 
visions getting short, started for home, arriving on 
the coast directly off Cape Hatteras the last clays of 
January, 1844. Our provisions allowing us only about 
half our regular rations, we made the most of every 
breath of wind to shorten the distance between us 
and home. 

Another proof of the watchfulness of my guardian 
spirits over my destiny transpired at this time, with- 
out which the ship and crew must inevitably have 
been lost. Facts then gave a significant answer to 
the oft-repeated question of sceptics and bigots, 
" What practical good has Spiritualism done ? " 

One evening, after partaking of a scanty supper, I 
came on deck with the officers, and went along in the 
waist, or midships, to watch the sunset ; the sea as 
smooth as a mirror, not a cloud to be seen, the wind 
light, with all sail set, close hauled on the port tack, 
and going along not over two knots per hour. We 
(the mate and self) were leaning over the weather- 
rail, watching the bright luminary go down, which 
to me is always a grand sight, when he looks as 
though he were going into the sea. 

At the moment his lower limb touched the surface 
of the water, I heard some voice say in clear, distinct 
words, Take in sail. As the words seemed to come 
from a person abaft, and close to where I stood, I 
instinctively looked in that direction. But seeing no 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 169 

one, and feeling that the words came from some invis- 
ible source, as the like had hundreds of times before, 
also knowing the mate was none the wiser for it, and 
that I never heard it unless in some critical emer- 
gency, and then not until all my own resources were 
exhausted, instinctively I looked overhead, and fol- 
lowed the entire circuit of the horizon; and, seeing 
nothing to indicate danger, I thought it might be 
hallucination. However I felt restless and uneasy, 
and wanted to follow the mysterious instructions. 
But as we were threatened with still smaller allow- 
ance of grub, and every man knew this as well as 
myself, if I shortened sail under existing conditions, 
with an unclouded and remarkably clear sky, all 
hands would naturally think me luny. I felt fidgety, 
and could not keep still, but kept moving uneasily. 
The mate was busy talking about when we should 
probably get home, little dreaming what was agitat- 
ing my mind. When the sun became fully submerged 
in the ocean, as it appeared, I saw a brassy haze shoot 
up directly over where the sun set ; and, the farther 
the sun went down, the higher those ominous streaks 
went up. At last, being unable to control my dis- 
turbed feelings, I turned my back to the rail to hide 
from sight the cause of my uneasiness. In turning 
round I noticed this haze had reflected itself on the 
lee horizon both ways, as far as I could see. This 
decided me. Instantly I told the mate to call up 
the dog-watch, and take in sail. He looked surprised, 
and for a moment hesitated ; but as I sung out, " Clew 
up topgallant-sails," to the watch on deck, he went for- 
ward growling. I heard him say derisively, " Hadn't 

15 



170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

you better send clown topgallant-yards and masts ? " 
I remember saying in response, " Yes, every thing if 
I had time." The men came tumbling up out of the 
forecastle at hearing the order from the mate to take 
in sail, looking overhead and all round, and, seeing 
nothing indicating danger, wondered what was up. 
I heard the query from some of them, " What's the 
matter with the old man ? is he crazy ? " 

However, they entered into the spirit that animated 
the watch on deck, and came up with alacrity. I was 
here and there, letting go this and that, and cheer- 
ing the men on to still greater exertions. Seeing me 
so earnest to get sail in, operated on their spirits, as 
though they were invigorated with fresh vitality. 
Each vied with each to see who could do the most, 
although they saw no necessity for such hurrying, in 
fact, saw no need of taking in sail at all. 

By the time we had the light sails secured, the jib 
furled, the courses hauled up, and the topsails ready 
for reefing, a tornado struck the ship from the west, 
with such force, that at first I thought the masts 
would go by the board. She was lying side to the 
wind, so that it struck the yards endways ; the sails 
were hauled up snug, and the ship was almost on her 
beam-ends, which saved the sails from being blown 
into ribbons. 

The wind continued with unabated fury all night, 
or until four, A.M., when it lulled sufficiently to let us 
close-reef the topsails, which would have been impos- 
sible before, on account of the perpendicularity of the 
yards, and ferocity of the wind which levelled the sea 
as smooth as a pond. Thus the ship lay on her side 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 171 

all night, with a quivering, trembling sensation, much 
as would be experienced when one is laboring under 
some fearful excitement. 

It seemed as though the wind took the surface of 
the sea in its arms, and carried it along ; for there was 
a dense, white, spray-like cloud constantly passing 
over the quivering hull, which looked not unlike a 
fierce snowstorm driving before a furious gale. The 
gale abated about noon the next day, when we made 
sail, and once more stood on our course. 

I have here tried to give, in plain, homely language, 
the exact details, without a particle of coloring, one 
of the many remarkable experiences of my life. If 
any should doubt the reality of some intelligence 
speaking to me, and call my fact3 hallucinations, or 
the result of a morbid, over-sensitive imagination, that 
will make no difference as to the final result ; for the 
intelligent reader must confess (unless he doubts the 
whole thing, in which case I have nothing to say) 
that the voice telling me in clear, distinct language, 
what to do, let it come from what source it might, 
saved the ship from destruction, and all hands from 
a premature grave in the domains of old Neptune. 

I determined, in order to save pilotage through the 
Vineyard Sound, to come in through what is called 
the South Channel, lying between Nantucket and the 
Georges Banks. 

Some five days subsequent to the above peril we 
entered the channel about the 1st of February ; and, 
leaving out details, I will merely say, that for the 
entire month we experienced nothing but a succes- 
sion of head- winds, either from the north-east or north- 



172 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

west, bringing us up first on Nantucket, and then on 
the Georges, so that in the whole month we made but 
twenty-eight miles nothing, as sailors call northward. 

Here follows another evidence of the watchful care 
of my mysterious unseen friend, as I was wont to call 
the author of these YOICES, who had so many times 
before given me most important instructions in cases 
of eminent peril, and how to avoid the serious results 
sure to follow if the instructions thus given were 
unheeded. 

One day, at twelve, M., found us in nine fathoms 
water, in a terrible gale from the north-west, drifting 
on to the shoals. According to the chart, the water 
lessened in depth one fathom a mile ; and a ship laying 
to under bare poles is calculated to drift to leeward 
about one mile per hour : consequently, if no favor- 
able change in the wind intervened, she must strike 
the bottom at about four, p.m. I had made several 
unsuccessful attempts to get her on the other tack, 
but failed for want of sufficient head-sail, having lost 
the fore and foretopmast stay-sails, which were indis- 
pensable, in the absence of the foresail, to throw her 
bow off. If I could get her heading the other way, 
she would drift parallel to, instead of directly on to, 
the bank. 

After consulting with the officers, I determined to 
make one more effort, by hauling down the weather- 
clew of the reefed foresail, that is, to secure the bunt 
of the sail with extra gaskets, and loose the weather- 
yard-arm only. We set about it at once. As she 
fell off sometimes three or four points, and in coming 
to would get considerable headway on, I thought by 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 173 

watching for such an opportunity, and having the 
after-yards well squared in, with the head ones 
braced sharp up, that when she began to fall off, by 
rolling the wheel " hard up," and hauling down the 
weather-clew of the foresail at the same time, the 
chances for getting her round were quite flattering. 

We made the above preparations with all the care 
our desperate situation demanded ; for all hands were 
well aware that this was our last chance, and if we 
failed, unless a favorable change of wind took place, 
no power we possessed could avert the certain destruc- 
tion of the ship, and the lives of all hands, and that 
in a few hours at most. 

All things being ready, the ship began to fall off 
more than usual, and the wheel was rolled hard up. 
In attempting to haul down the clew of the fragment 
of the foresail, it went into pieces in a moment. This 
was about half-past one, p.m. Consequently every visi- 
ble means had failed of getting her round ; thus was 
cut off the only hope of relief from our perilous situa- 
tion, unless a favorable change of wind took place, 
which was not probable, as the gale had steadily in- 
creased its ferocity since noon, and must in a few hours 
at the longest bring to an end all sublunary things 
with us : yet my mind was never more at its ease ; 
and, if I didn't fear provoking an incredulous smile, I 
would tell the truth, and say that it never was freer 
from troublesome thoughts. I tried to feel different. 
I remember saying to myself, " Why don't I feel sad ? " 
knowing that our last chance for escape was cut off. 
I rubbed my head, to see if I couldn't wake up to the 
realities of our hopeless condition. I thought of my 

15* 



174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

wife and child, and of mother's religious teachings 
and admonitions about the awful unknown ; but all 
I could do or think not only did not wake up the 
feelings that I thought every sensible man ought to 
have under such hopeless circumstances, but actually 
made my mind more calm and easy. I began to 
think that I must either be dreaming, or else was 
callous to all the finer feelings of my kind. The only 
regret I felt at the fate staring me in the face was, 
that my family would miss getting some presents I 
had for their use ; and, among them, two pair of 
ivory swifts I had made on the voyage with my own 
hands, which latter I regretted more than all the 
rest. And although I had got up a revival in the 
ship, as before stated, yet I was a more confirmed 
infidel to prevalent Christianity than even before. 
That is, if we were immortal beings (I said to myself), 
which I very much doubted, I didn't believe in the 
vicarious atonement, or that people were doomed to 
eternal torments in hell for doing what they were 
compelled to through the circumstances of birth 
and a false education. It may be asked why I carried 
on the meetings when holding such a belief: my 
answer simply is, because I saw it made others 
happy, and didn't do me nor anybody else any 
harm. 

I have been thus particular in relating the work- 
ings of my mind while going through this trying 
ordeal, to show that this mysterious influence, often 
spoken of heretofore, put forth power to keep me in 
this quiet, harmonious state, so that, when the proper 
time came, it would be able to give me direct in- 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 175 

structions how to get out of our apparently hopeless 
dilemma ; which, if my mind had been in an excited 
state, would probably have been impossible. With 
this explanation, I will go back to where we made 
the last unsuccessful attempt to get the ship's head 
the other way. 

Because I didn't want the crew to know the real 
danger we were in, I kept the " lead line" in my 
own possession ; for, if they knew the real danger, it 
would demoralize them to such a degree, that, if at 
the very last moment there should come a chance to 
save the ship, the men would be unavailable. And 
then, again, I thought it was merciful to keep them 
in ignorance as long as I could, and thus save them 
an eternity of mental suffering condensed into a 
few hours. 

The wisdom of the deception will be apparent as 
I go along. When I was asked by .any of the offi- 
cers the depth of water, I added several fathoms; 
when it was nine fathoms, I told them thirteen ; and 
so on. From half-past one, p.m., until near three, 
all we could do was to hope and look for a change 
in the wind. About this time I got a cast of the 
lead indicating less than seven fathoms (forty-two 
feet), with the tremendous sea rising mountains high. 
I should not have been surprised then to feel her 
strike the bottom at any time. A little after three, 
P.M., I went into the cabin, as I supposed for the last 
time. I looked at our position on the chart lying on 
the table ; and knowing it to be exactly correct, and 
noticing that the depth of the water to the leeward 
of us began to diminish more rapidly the nearer we 



176 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

approached the partially submerged bank, I resolved 
to call all the hands aft, and tell them the exact state 
of things ; which facts I knew would put them all 
on their knees, soliciting help from the Lord. 

I went on deck with this determination ; and as I 
was in the act of beckoning the officers to me (for 
the strongest lungs could not be heard six feet) for 
the purpose of calling all hands aft, a voice seeming 
to come from my right, a little aft from where I 
stood, said in clear, distinct tones, " Ware ship." I 
responded, as I usually do when no one is near, " I 
can't : my head-sails are all gone." Instantly the 
voice again said, " Make a sail of the men ; man 
the weather fore-rigging." Although I had never 
heard of such a manoeuvre before* its practicability 
flashed through my brain in an instant, and I deter- 
mined to try it at once ; going upon the principle, 
" Better try and fail, than never try at all." Instead 
of setting them to praying, I called them aft, and 
told them in as few words as possible what I had de- 
termined upon* telling them to go forward* and that 
I would take the wheel myself, and when I made the 
signal every man in the ship to get into the weather 
fore-rigging, and keep close to each other ; and, when 
she was before the wind, to hustle down below, haul 
over the scuttles to the gangways, and stay there 
until she came to the wind on the other tack. This 
precaution I deemed necessary, as coming to with 
such a sea, I had been told, was dangerous in the 
extreme. She might ship a heavy sea, and sweep 
the decks of every thing ; and sometimes the mast 
would go by the board. 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 177 

After squaring the after-yards, and bracing up the 
head ones, they all went forward, thirty-three of 
them, laughing and joking as much as the threaten- 
ing danger permitted, about being made into a storm- 
staysail, to ware ship under; a feat in seamanship 
never heard of before, they said among themselves. 

I lashed myself to the wheel ; and when the proper 
time came, at the signal from me, the men scrabbled 
into the rigging, where being packed close together 
they made quite a large sail. The ship worked 
beautifully. The moment she began to fall off, she 
gathered headway, and, with the wheel " hard up," 
went round, and came to on the opposite tack with- 
out taking a spoonful of water on deck. 

I shall never forget my sensations as she was go- 
ing round, I standing there amid the conflicting ele- 
ments, lashed to the wheel, solitary and alone ; the 
ship now on the crest of a mountain wave, now in 
the trough between those tremendous seas, at another 
time standing almost on end, as she mounted the 
smooth side of another. My mind being in a pass- 
ive, quiet condition, I took in the grand, magnificent 
scene, with feelings bordering on the sublime. 

Soon after we had her head the other way, the 
wind veered a little to the eastward, which was most 
favorable to us ; for this change set her drifting 
directly away from the bank. I took a mainstaysail 
into the cabin, and with plenty of willing hands had 
it so altered, that we made it do for the fore staysail ; 
but we had much difficulty to bend it, as the ship, 
from the after part of the fore-chains, was one block 
of ice. By dint of hard work, we bent and set it. 



178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

While bending this, we got an old patched foresail 
out of the sail-room, strengthened it with bands, 
bent and reefed it, bent and close-reefed a new 
maintopsail in place of one that was split soon after 
the gale commenced ; and by eight, p.m., the wind 
having subsided a good deal, we had her under three 
close-reefed topsails. 

Thus ends another remarkable answer to the 
question, " What practical good have spirits done ? " 
By noon the next day, the gale had abated so far 
that we carried all sail ; and by night the wind had 
veered to the south-west light. 

Three days subsequent to our deliverance, we 
spoke the brig " President " of Portland, Capt. Sar- 
gent, from one of the West India Islands, with a load 
of molasses, bound to Portland, Me. ; and, as we were 
very short of provisions, I went on board to see if I 
could replenish our exhausted larder. , It being a 
little after sunrise, I took breakfast with him, and 
staid on board until after dinner. He was standing 
along under close-reefed topsails ; and, the wind being 
light, I asked him why he was under such short sail. 
He said he was expecting a " north-easter," and 
wanted to be ready to meet it. At twelve, M., by 
observation, Highland Light, on Cape Cod, bore 
north-west by north fifty-four miles. When I was 
about leaving, he asked me which way I was going ; 
in or off shore. I told him inshore by all means ; 
continuing, " If I go ashore, I want to go where 
there is dry land somewhere near." He understood 
what I had referred to, as I had told him what a pre- 
dicament I had got into off the Georges Shoals. 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 179 

He said if I did, and the wind should come from 
the north-east, which he thought from present indi- 
cations would be upon us before night, that I would 
be high and dry on the cape before twenty-four 
hours. To strengthen his argument, he said that he 
had been in the West India trade for twenty-two 
years, had come on to the coast at all seasons, and 
had never lost so much as a studdingsail sail-boom. 
He plead so hard, and appeared so earnest, and being 
withal an old experienced pilot on the coast, I made 
up my mind to do as he advised. We were heading 
off shore when I went on board of my ship, braced 
forward, and as soon as we had all sail set, and yards 
trimmed, I heard my familiar VOICE say, " Tack ship." 
With not a moment's hesitation, I told the mate to 
get ready for stays, the brig bobbing along on the 
offshore tack under close-reefed topsails. As I drew 
into the land, the wind gradually veered to the south- 
west ; and by eight, P.M., we had a " smoking south- 
wester," and at daylight passed in by Sequin Light 
off the entrance of the Kennebec River, and an- 
chored at Parker's Flats by ten, a.m. 

I subsequently learned that Capt. Sargent was 
blown to the southward of the gulf twice, and six 
weeks after I left him went ashore on Monnoi Point, 
and lost vessel and cargo, which cost him a whole 
lifetime's hard work ; for he owned most of the brig, 
all the cargo, and, being an experienced pilot, hadn't 
a cent of insurance on either vessel or cargo. His 
wreck made a poor man of him in his old age. But, 
as good a pilot as he was, I had a better. I called 
upon him the following summer, at his home in 



180 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Portland, where lie was keeping a small meat-market 
to eke out a scanty subsistence. In speaking of our 
meeting at sea, he said, " When I saw your ship in 
stays, I said to my mate, That young man will be 
high and dry on the cape before daylight." 

When reflecting upon this portion of my history, 
and taking into account iny inexperience in coming 
upon the coast in the winter months, coupled with 
Capt. Sargent's anxiety occasioned by the course I 
stood after leaving him, and my habits which usually 
were to give heed to age and experience, especially 
when there existed doubts as to what was best to do 
in certain emergencies, I class it among the most 
remarkable manifestations of direct spirit aid I ever 
experienced. 

Soon after we anchored, as before related, a couple 
of river-pilots came on board, whom I engaged to 
take the ship up to Bath, some fifteen or twenty 
miles. 

It being ebb-tide, we did not get under way until 
the next morning ; and, although the wind was dead 
ahead, we got under way to beat up on the flood-tide. 
When arrived at the narrows, within sight of the 
city, I went below to get ready to go ashore ; but the 
pilots, standing over to the left shore too far, got into 
the eddy, which was setting very strong inshore ; and 
the ship, having considerable headway on, forced her 
bow high up among the rocks. It being then tip-top 
high water, before we could get out a kedge anchor 
to haul her off, the tide began to recede, and left her 
hard and fast on the rocks. Finding it impossible to 
get her off that tide, as she was listed outward, we 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 181 

did every thing in our power to heel her inshore, but 
failed. When the tide had all run out, she lay- 
almost high and dry on a rocky bottom heeled off 
shore about thirty degrees. We made all prepara- 
tions to haul her off the next high water ; but, as the 
preceding tide was the highest of a high course, 
the following highwater fell off near a foot. There 
would not be another as high course of tides for 
months ; and the best thing to be done was to dis- 
charge her where she lay. 

Accordingly I sent to town for lighters, and at 
the same time commenced dismantling her. I had 
sent to the underwriters to send an agent to take 
charge of her. The vessel when cleared and insured 
was a bark ; for reasons already explained, I changed 
her rig into a ship while at sea. This was done for 
the benefit of the underwriters as well as the owners, 
and yet I was in hopes to conceal that fact from the 
agent when he arrived; therefore I used all speed to 
get her dismantled before he came, and succeeded in 
doing so. Soon he came, took charge of her, and 
relieved me from further responsibility. Upon this 
I went home ; but I had been there only a few days 
before I received a note from Capt. Gifford, agent for 
the insurance office, saying that the vessel I had left 
was not the one they insured. He said, " We insured 
a bark, but I learn from the testimony of some of 
the crew that this vessel was a full-rigged ship." 
He added, " I shall leave her, go home, and wait 
further development." 

It appears that some leaky fellow informed Capt. 
Gifford of the change in her rig after she was in- 

16 



182 AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 

sured. I subsequently learned it was Bill , the 

man who was so officious in getting up the mutiny 
heretofore detailed. Capt. Gifford knew it was the 
same vessel that they insured ; but the change I had 
made in her rig he thought was a sufficient cause to • 
make a question in law. 

Of course there was nothing left for me to do but 
take charge of her again, and make the best of it. 
After considerable trouble in getting her cargo out, 
and dismantling her, on account of continuous snow 
and rain storms, and her lying in such a bad place to 
get at, we at last succeeded in getting the ship and 
every thing belonging to her up to town ; and soon 
after, by a unanimous vote, the stockholders com- 
menced a suit against the underwriters to recover 
the insurance for damages sustained by getting 
ashore. The hull and tackle were sold at auction. 
After an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of paying 
the insurance-money, the insurance company settled 
up with the owners, though it cost them a bill of 
expenses which might have been avoided, had they 
settled up without resorting to litigation to get rid 
of payment. 

Every thing having been sold, including the oil, 
and the proceeds being added to the insurance, a 
general settlement with the stockholders took place ; 
and. each one received back his principal, with a little 
over twelve per cent interest on his investment. 

Thus ended what, considering the circumstances 
under which the enterprise was gotten up and 
carried to its termination, may be deemed one of the 
most remarkable manifestations of direct spirit aid 



FOURTH VOYAGE WHALING. 183 

from beginning to end, that has been chronicled in 
the business experience of this age of wonders. 

This voyage ended my nautical career as a busi- 
ness, but did not put me beyond the reach of the 
" voice." My days ashore have found me amid some 
scenes less exciting, which yet were full to the brim 
of strange incidents and experiences bordering on 
the marvellous, as compared with the every-day 
routine of ordinary business transactions. In my 
account of them I shall be as brief as the nature of 
the case will admit consistently with the object of 
the work in hand. 



CHAPTER X. 

LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 

Though I had made but a poor fist at farming, I 
had the farm still on my hands, and thought I would 
try to manage it again. I worked upon it the sum- 
mer following my arrival home in the " Massasoit," 
but the result was not a whit better than at my first 
effort. I stopped on it until the following spring, 
when I sold out, and left the place. Thus ended my 
farming career. 

My next operation was to buy another lot, con- 
taining some thirty acres of the poorest land in all 
Maine. I knew its quality before making the pur- 
chase ; but it had good buildings on it, and I got it 
for a home for my family. 

By this time I had become somewhat involved 
pecuniarily. Having no business by which I could 
recuperate my exhausted exchequer, I finally be- 
came so poor, that I had serious difficulty in procur- 
ing sufficient to keep the starving wolf of poverty 
from entering our humble abode. This fact being 
known, my friends (?) gave me the cold shoulder ; 
when one's money goes from him, his supposed friends 
are apt to follow suit. To tell the exact truth, I was 
completely discouraged. Everybody avoided me, for 

184 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 185 

fear I would solicit aid ; my own family joined in a 
general cry about my incompetency to gain a- liveli- 
hood. My brother William at this time was engaged 
in the manufacture of shingles, clapboards, and 
laths, at Gardiner, Me. I applied to him for work 
in the mill. He set me at bunching or laying up 
shingles, at a small compensation, to be paid out of 
a store where he did his trading. After a while I 
got promoted to sawing shingles. 

The fall before I commenced working for William 
in the winter, a whole string of mills belonging to 
old Mr. Robert Gardner caught fire and burned 
down. I think there were ten in all. They had 
stood alongside the one I was working in ; and when 
I commenced work they were about half rebuilt. 

Associating as I constantly was with folks who 
talked of nothing but lumber and its manufacture, 
I learned that there was a large margin left in the 
operator's favor after all expenses were paid. I 
often wished I had the means to try it ; but, as I had 
no experience in the business, it was silly to even 
think about it; and for weeks, whenever the thought 
came into my mind, I would throw it away. But, in 
spite of all I could do to the contrary, it would in- 
trude itself for my consideration. Finally on wak- 
ing up one night, after a few hours' sleep, the first 
thing that I thought of was a saw-mill. I allowed 
myself to indulge in some extravagant mental calcu- 
lations as regarded the profits which one might rea- 
sonably anticipate if engaged in the business. I 
don't know how long I humored myself with such 
thoughts ; but, as I was about going to sleep, some 

16* 



186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

one close to my ear whispered, " Lease one of the new 
mills." Although spoken in a whisper, the utterance 
was very clear and distinct. This aroused me to 
complete wakefulness, and I began to think how it 
could be brought about. This mysterious, unseen 
intelligence had often proved competent to put me 
through under conditions equally bad. I began to 
speculate in earnest ; for I knew, judging from the 
past, that somehow or other I should become en- 
gaged in the lumbering business, although I well 
knew that it would take thousands of dollars to get 
it a-going. How, I did not know ; but my experience 
with my guide had already been such, that I had a 
right to expect favorable results in any thing eman- 
ating from that source. 

Before morning I had made up my mind to try, 
and that I would go to Mr. Gardner ; and if he would 
give me a three-years' lease, the rent to be paid when 
due, without security, I would take it for granted 
that it was right to go ahead. So the next morning 
about half-past nine o'clock I told my brother I wanted 
to go away an hour or so. He says rather petulantly, 
" Where's thee going? " I says, " Not far." With- 
out more ado about it, I went direct to Mr. Gardner's 
office, found him in and alone. Ascertaining that 
the person present was Mr. Gardner (for I had never 
seen him before), I asked him the rent of the mills 
then being rebuilt. He says, " Seven hundred and 
fifty dollars a year, payable every three months." 
This was all I wanted ; and I agreed at once to take 
one. He said he would have the lease ready that 
afternoon. After he ascertained my name, I left. I 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GABDINER, ME. 187 

didn't know but he would want reference, which I 
could not have given, for I knew scarce one in the 
place, and those that knew me in my home neighbor- 
hood would not have been of any advantage to me. 
However, I went for the lease about five o'clock, 
when he handed it to me, with a note for Mr. Little- 
field his agent, who was overseeing the rebuilding, 
telling him which mill I had taken, and to hurry up 
that one, as I was in a hurry to get to work. 

After getting the lease in my pocket, I went back 
to the mill, and to work, as though nothing had 
happened. Now, then, I had a mill, which would be 
ready in about two or three weeks ; but where was 
the lumber to stock it, to come from ? Although I 
had no valid reason to doubt that some way or 
another it would be forthcoming at the proper time, 
yet I could but feel not a little anxious about it. I 
didn't dare to tell my folks what basis I had to work 
from, as they considered me half insane already, in 
going into wild-goose chases, as they called my 
operations ; and if they knew I was depending upon 
some unseen being as my adviser, and that the idea 
in the first place emanated from such a one, they 
would have put me in an insane asylum at once. 

When I handed the letter from Mr. Gardner to 
Mr. Littlefield, I requested him (Mr. Littlefield) not 
to say any thing about it to any one. I wanted to 
surprise my friends. 

I worked along as usual, but kept up an anxious 
thinking about my wild enterprise. Every now and 
then, a doubtful thought would present itself, such 
as, Supposing I should fail in getting logs to stock 



188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

my mill, what will people say, and especially my own 
folks ? Whenever these thoughts would come, my 
mind would instinctively go back to the time when 
from the same mysterious source I got up a ship, and 
made a successful voyage in her, under circumstances, 
if any thing, far more discouraging than my present 
prospects indicated. These reflections would re- 
assure me, and tended to keep my mind calm. 

One of the two weeks before the mill would be 
ready came round wondrously quick, and no indica- 
tions of logs yet, nor in fact, any prospect of any. 
Instead of looking brighter, my future looked more 
dark and sombre each succeeding day. About this 
time Mr. Littlefield told me he couldn't get the mill 
ready as soon as was expected by a week or more. 
Although I expressed neither regret nor pleasure, I 
was greatly pleased at this information, because it 
would give me so much more time to get stock to 
start, and keep the mill a-going. If asked what good 
a prolonging of time would do for me, I could not 
have told ; for there was no visible source from which 
I could draw in the least hope. Still I couldn't 
help thinking that somehow or other time was all I 
needed. 

I kept on working for my brother as usual, and 
said nothing. There being a good many mill-men 
out of work, on account of the mills having been 
burned down the fall before, who ivere on the look- 
out for a job, I noticed many of them inquiring of 
Mr. Littlefield whether any of the mills were rented 
yet. As per request he kept mum as to my affairs. 
One man Mr. Littlefield recommended as a good fore- 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 189 

man, and advised me to secure his services. Knowing 
nothing aLout a mill myself, it was absolutely neces- 
sary that I should employ the best man I could find 
to take charge. Accordingly about a week before 
the mill was ready, and before I had a log, or any 
prospect of any, I hired him, and requested him to 
say nothing about it until the mill was ready for 
running. 

Two days subsequent to the above transaction, a 
stranger came into the mill inquiring of Mr. Little- 
field for me. It appears, that this man, whose name 
was Wing, of the firm of Wing & Bates, commission 
merchants in lumber, asked Mr. Littlefield if he knew 
of any one they could contract with to saw a large 
" mark " of logs by the thousand. Mr. Littlefield said 
he didn't unless it was me ; adding, " He has rented 
mill No. 10, but I know nothing further. Come 
round, and I'll introduce you to him." Mr. Littlefield 
beckoned me to him, and we were introduced to each 
other. Mr. Wing at once entered into the object of 
his visit. In answer to the question, how much per 
thousand I would ask to saw out five hundred thou- 
sand feet, he saying that a large part of them were in 
a boom a few miles up river, I told him two and a 
half dollars, if delivered in the boom at the mill. 
He acceded to the price on the instant. He said 
that a proviso must be attached to the agreement, 
viz., that, if a purchaser came along before I com- 
menced upon them, this agreement must be null 
and void. I said to him, " According to that, I'm not 
sure of getting the job, as a purchaser may make his 
appearance before I can get to work." In response 



190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

lie said, " There is hardly a chance for that, as the 
logs have been for sale some three months, and not 
an offer has been made. It is getting late, and every- 
body has made all provision for their stock long ago ; 
and, as you will be ready to cut into them in a week, 
I don't think it necessary for you to look elsewhere." 

The writings were drawn up according to the 
above ; and, although I didn't feel quite sure, yet his 
reasoning allayed almost all apprehensions in that 
direction. At any rate, I told brother William what 
I had been up to unobserved the past month. In the 
first place, I told him I had a lease of No. 10 for three 
years. He immediately asked, " Where's thee going 
to get logs to saw ? " I told him of my trade with 
Mr. Wing. He seemed astounded, but said nothing. 
I then left off working for him, and attended to 
getting ready for business, highly elated at my 
prospects. I had hired all my men to come on when 
called for : the foreman commenced at once to see 
that every thing was being done satisfactorily. I all 
the while was urging on matters as fast as possible. 
I wrote my family, who were in the country, telling 
the dash I had made to court the favors of Dame 
Fortune again, and this time with better prospects of 
ultimate success than ever before. They all seemed 
surprised when they heard of it, but said, " It's just 
like him." An old friend of mine when he heard of 
it expressed himself thus, " Bime-by he'll be building 
a fleet of ships : there's no telling what he'll do 
next." 

But I was not to slide into the outstretched arms 
of beckoning Fortune so easily. 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 191 

A little oyer two clays before the mill was to start, 
I saw Mr. Wing coming into the mill near night. 
As he advanced towards where I was standing, I 
distinctly felt a cold chill permeate my entire being. 
The cause of the chill was soon solved. Without 
any circumlocution, he told me at once, that a pur- 
chaser had come to hand, and had bought the whole 
" mark," thus cutting me off entirely. 

One may imagine my feelings at that moment, but 
they could never be expressed in words. I was 
paralyzed and speechless, and stood still glaring into 
Mr. Wing's face, like one deprived of his reason. 
When Mr. Wing told me about the sale, I only heard 
the sentence that assured me my hopes were crushed ; 
the rest of his speech I knew nothing about. All 
that I could remember was a sort of what seemed to 
me rumbling sound coming from his lips, the' whole 
purport of which I knew in the first sentence. More 
thoughts passed in rapid succession through my 
mind in those few brief moments, than I could give 
expression to in an hour. In the first place, I 
realized that I was entirely alone in the world, as 
much so as if I was the only living thing on its 
surface ; that is, as far as sympathy was concerned, in 
regard to what they would call a very "rash and 
injudicious act." I could seem to hear them say, 
" The idea of undertaking, single-handed and alone, a 
business requiring capital to be counted only by 
thousands, with not a cent in his pocket, with no 
credit or business friends to assist him, is absolute 
insanity." And then that awful "I told you so," 
and,- " I knew it would turn so," &c. ; these thoughts, 



192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

and hundreds of others of similar import, went 
crashing through my excited brain, one following the 
other, like so many demons intent on dethroning my 
reason. 

This state of things lasted but a few moments. 
Soon the cloud passed over, and I was myself again. 
Mr. Wing seemed to feel almost as bad as I did. To 
encourage me, he said he would do all in his power 
to assist me, compatible with his business. I said 
nothing in response to his kind words. Before he 
left, a sweet, calm feeling of trust, gradually envel- 
oped and permeated my entire being. 

About the time I recovered from the shock those 
few words from Mr. Wing, gave me, the foreman, 
who was unconscious of what had so recently tran- 
spired, came along to ask some questions relating to 
something about the machinery. I gave him instruc- 
tions as unconcernedly as though nothing had hap- 
pened to mar the harmony of my feelings. When I 
told my brother of the reverse in my present pros- 
pects, the poor fellow felt very bad, for several 
reasons ; one of which was, that, now that all our 
folks had heard about my successful attempt at 
getting into a business promising success, to fail up 
before I had even began, he thought, would bring a 
stigma upon all who bore our name. However, we 
said but little, and separated. By this time my mind 
had regained that calm trust that always succeeds 
serious reverses of expectant hopes. 

The next morning I went to the mill as usual, 
my mind having recovered through nature's sweet 
restorer its wonted serenity. About nine, A.M., I 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 193 

started out for a walk, not haying the least idea of 
where I was going, and mechanically strolled down 
Main Street, with no object in view. I came abreast 
of Wing & Bates's office, although I did not know 
where their office was at the time. All at once I had 
an indescribable desire to go to their place. Upon 
inquiry, I found I was standing nearly opposite to 
it. Instinctively I entered, and, being introduced to 
Mr. Bates by his partner, sat down and listened 
to the conversation of an old man who was trying to 
sell a small "mark" of hemlock logs to them. 

They told him they didn't want them. "But," 
said Mr. Wing, " maybe this gentleman (meaning 
me) will buy them." Upon this the old man turned 
round, and addressing me said, " I wish you would." 
I told him I had no money. He said almost instantly, 
"I don't want any," and added, "You may have 
them for three dollars per thousand by Stewart's 
survey, on three months. After ascertaining that 
there might not be more than twenty or thirty thou- 
sand, and that they would serve to begin with, and 
thinking that by the time those were used up I 
might get more, and that, at any rate, these were 
vastly better than nothing, I told the man I would 
take them on the conditions he named. After 
arranging about giving my note to Wing & Bates in 
accordance with Mr. Stewart's survey-bill, I left, and 
never saw the seller afterwards. 

Although I had made but a small purchase, I went 
back to the mill comparatively happy, with my small 
beginning. On my return I met Mr. Littlefield, who 
asked me if I had any hemlock logs. I told him I 

17 



194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

had just bought a small mark. He then said that he 
had a bill of dimension timber for a large building 
he was going to put up, and as I was just beginning 
he would offer the job to me. Upon inquiry I found 
there would be forty-eight thousand feet. He said 
he was willing to give me seven dollars per thousand 
delivered at the mill. Of course I accepted the offer 
at once. He gave me the bill of specifications, which 
I passed to the foreman, who tacked it upon the gate- 
post. 

The logs were all in the great boom attached to 
the mills ; and before night I had Mr. Stewart's 
survey-bill, which made of the lot a little less than 
twenty-four thousand feet. The smallness of the 
quantity was a damper, since, according to the survey- 
bill, I had only about half enough to fill the order. 
Mr. Stewart took the bill to Wing & Bates as 
agreed upon, and they made a note in accordance 
therewith. When I went down the next morning to 
sign the note, I inquired of Wing where I could get 
more of the same sort, telling him I had but half 
enough to fill an order I had taken for dimension 
stuff soon after leaving him yesterday. They didn't 
know of any this side of Augusta, told me who had 
them there, and that probably I could get all I 
wanted. Upon going up to the latter place, I found 
that I could get any quantity at two days' notice, 
delivered in my boom. With this I left for home, 
promising to call when I found out how many I 
needed. 

A day or two subsequent to this we had the mill 
running ; and, when the logs were all together, there 



LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 195 

seemed to be enough to fill the order. At any rate, I 
concluded to wait and see how they cut up, before 
making another purchase. It is customary, in scaling 
crooked logs, to make deductions sufficient to make it 
into straight timber. This lot of logs was unusually 
crooked, but sound; and as the bill of dimensions 
contained mostly short stuff, by taking advantage of 
the crooks, the logs sawed up almost as economically 
as straight timber. 

To make a long story short, we sawed out the 
entire bill of forty-eight thousand feet, and had left 
what made almost as much more as the survey-bill 
called for. As soon as the order was completed, 
Mr. Littlefield gave me his check for the amount, 
$336. I sawed, out of the same lot, another small 
order of thirteen thousand feet, for which I was paid 
$91 ; making in all $427 ; deducting from which my 
note of less than $72 left me a balance of a little 
over $355 for the mill, besides a few thousand feet of 
logs left. 

After this, I had no further trouble about getting 
stock for my mill ; and, before two months had passed, 
I bought a mark of logs amounting, according to 
the survey-bill, to 2,600,000 feet, of a man by the 
name of Miles Standish, a direct descendant of the 
Miles Standish who came over in " The Mayflower," 
and landed on Plymouth Rock in December, 1620. 
It was agreed between us, that I should pay six 
dollars per thousand feet, and, after deducting the 
expenses of sawing and marketing, divide the balance 
with him, be it more or less. This constituted him a 
silent partner in the concern. It was also agreed 



196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

between us, that the business should be carried on 
wholly in my name. This arrangement made a good 
thing for him, and a safe business for me ; for by it I 
should be exempted from giving notes, which must 
be met at maturity, whether I had any thing to take 
them up with or not. By the above arrangement, I 
had got into a large and safe business, with no mis- 
givings about the future, at least for a couple of 
years. In addition to the manufacture of boards, I 
got machinery a-going for making laths and shingles. 
I shipped most of my lumber to Fall River, where I 
found a ready market for all I could manufacture. 

I bought out a large grocery store, which I kept 
well stocked with all kinds of groceries, also on one 
side a well-assorted stock of dry goods, such as are 
mostly used in workmen's families. I had no other 
object in getting the store, than the accommodating 
my workmen and their families, of which there were 
some sixty who were working for me. I let them 
have goods at cost, deducting only the actual ex- 
penses, by which they saved from fifteen to twenty- 
five per cent. To outsiders I charged the same as at 
other stores. Soon after I got a-going, finding my 
business increasing, I took the adjoining mill, at the 
same price as the first one. 

It will be seen that, in less than six months from 
the time I commenced, I had slid gradually and 
easily, without one extra effort on my part, into a 
large and lucrative business, increasing in volume 
each succeeding day ; and, taking into account the 
circumstances as heretofore detailed, mine was, to 
say the least, a very remarkable change from as 



LTTMBEKING BUSINESS AT GABDINER, ME. 197 

low a condition as can well be conceived of, to one 
approximating its opposite. I attribute the man- 
agement of the transaction wholly and totally to 
business heads in spirit life, working, through my 
organism, the wonderful change in my circumstances 
in such brief space of time. 

The following spring, I effected a contract, through 
John Hull & Co. of Fall River, with the Fall River 
Railroad Company, to furnish fence-boards and rail- 
road-ties for an extension of their road. The whole 
contract amounted to fifteen thousand dollars, out of 
which I saved three thousand dollars for my services. 
I did this by re-letting it to other parties, not being 
able to fill it from my mills, on account of previous 
engagements. 

Thus the work went on, without a particle of fric- 
tion, until late the next fall, when circumstances 
transpired which broke up and destroyed my large 
and flourishing business entirely. Mr. Standish hav- 
ing become heavily involved in his operations, his 
paper must be protested. Knowing this, and having 
the entire confidence of a large circle of friends, and 
his word being as good as his bond, he took ample 
time to get into his own hands all the spare cash his 
friends had, and then failed for upwards of forty 
thousand dollars. As I thought I had a lien on the 
logs I was at work upon, I felt comparatively safe. 
I had a bill of sale of them; but another party 
held a prior claim as collateral security for money 
advanced in getting them cut and into market. 

As he held my paper for a large amount in addi- 
tion to my indorsements for him, and as every 

17* 



198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

avenue was cut off to raise funds to cancel them, I 
failed irretrievably. 

Mr. Standish left for parts unknown, and I never 
heard of him afterwards. Thus, when few men living 
had a more lucrative business, in complete working 
order, with no liabilities for a dollar that I could not 
meet at a moment's notice, that is, as far as my own 
business was concerned, I was crushed and destroyed 
without a moment's notice, and at a time when I felt 
absolutely secure. When I learned the real situation 
of things, my feelings were such that I will not 
attempt to describe them. Suffice it to say, I went 
to my room, locked the door, and threw myself on 
the bed, with a distressed, sickly sensation in my 
stomach, caused by this sudden reverse in my affairs. 
The more I thought about it, the worse I felt, and 
for two hours I feared I would lose my reason ; when, 
all at once, I heard my familiar voice say, " Haven't 
you done the best you could ? Wouldn't you do the 
same again, with the same education?" 

The moment I heard the above, my mind seemed 
filled with a new light ; I saw for the first time that 
the whole experience of my recent rise and fall was 
simply educational; it showed me as clear as day, 
that the experience I had just passed through was 
necessary to show me that " man may propose, but 
God and angels dispose;" or, in other words, that 
something other than our immaculate selves is real 
author of circumstances of birth and education, and 
of all that we may accomplish, either good or bad, all 
our asseverations to the contrary notwithstanding. 

It seemed as though I was bathing in a sea of light, 






LUMBERING BUSINESS AT GARDINER, ME. 199 

which entirely removed all traces of excitement ; and 
I lay there a few moments, revelling in these to me 
new sensations, and quite forgot, for the time being, 
the proximate causes of all my troubles ; after which 
I got up, as quiet and calm as though nothing unusual 
had happened. To tell the exact truth, I felt happy 
at the way things had turned. 

Thus ends one of the many remarkable chapters 
in my eventful history, written to show the methods 
taken to make me a humbler, wiser, and happier man. 



CHAPTER XL 

LEARNING THE SHIP-BUILDING TRADE, AND ITS 
RESULTS. 

As soon as it became known among my business 
friends and acquaintances, that I had gone under, 
everybody who had an unsettled account sued me ; 
many did who upon comparing accounts were found 
to owe me a balance, instead of my owing them. One 
man, a Mr. Stuart, with whom I had not even a pass- 
ing acquaintance, and with whom I never had any 
business relations whatever, sued me for seventy dol- 
lars. Calling upon him to know what I owed him 
for, he failed to find any account against me. My 
name was not on his books. He said it was a mis- 
take, and let it go at that. 

Finding, after a fair trial for my rights, that every- 
body was determined that I should owe them some- 
thing, whether I did or not, and that I would have 
to contest every unfair claimant in the petty courts, 
I left the town disgusted with everybody in general, 
and some of the business men of Gardiner in particu- 
lar. One man, with a little more of the milk of human 
kindness in his heart than the majority, offered to as- 
sist me into business again, but under conditions that 
I didn't feel justified in accepting. What I should do 
200 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 201 

next, was what interested me more than any thing 
else. My friends were very officious in advising me. 
Some proposed one thing, others something else ; but 
all thought that any regular business was entirely 
out of the question. All advised me to confine my- 
self to simply working for others more capable than 
myself to conduct any thing that required tact and 
business forethought. 

It is not my purpose to give in detail all the little 
incidents of life : consequently I confine my writing 
to the more prominent ones, especially to those relat- 
ing to direct spirit aid, in telling me what to do when 
I am about to sink beneath the waves of untoward 
circumstances. 

During the fall and winter following the reverses 
detailed in the last chapter, I stopped at home. A 
Mr. Eldridge Jackson, my brother-in-law, was a shoe- 
maker, and lived in part of my house, carrying on his 
business in one of the chambers. As there was noth- 
ing better to do, I went into " cobbling," having had 
some considerable experience in that line when quite 
young, in making shoes for our family, and sometimes 
for the neighbors' children. Being among old ac- 
quaintances, I soon got up quite a business, making 
from two to three dollars per day. After I com- 
menced, Mr. Jackson turned over to me all the cob- 
bling business, confining himself entirely to making 
new work for a Mr. Joseph Estes. 

The following spring, ship-building took a start all 
over the country ; and, although I had been at sea in 
ships, I was entirely ignorant as to their construc- 
tion ; but having a mechanical turn of mind, as before 



202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

related, I determined to go into the business as a 
green hand, and gradually work up where I could 
command good wages. My plan was, to work in a 
place until I had got the hang of things pretty well, 
then leave there, and go to another place, and let 
myself for better wages, and keep doing so, until I 
had got as high in the profession as I could go ; which, 
from what I had accomplished when a mere lad, I flat- 
tered myself wouldn't take long to do. 

Money being very scarce, and hard to get, I was 
obliged to take, in exchange for my " cobbling," such 
produce as the farmers who were my patrons could 
spare, such as corn, potatoes, meat, &c, which an- 
swered my purpose just as well as money, as far as our 
living was concerned. But I couldn't even get money 
enough of them to pay for the stock used in repair- 
ing their old boots and shoes. 

I made up my mind to start by the middle or last of 
April for my new business ; and, failing to get money 
sufficient from my winter's work to get away with, 
I borrowed five dollars of iny uncle Bounds Crosman, 
and started for Belfast, where, as I learned, they were 
preparing to build quite a number of vessels the ensu- 
ing summer. I hadn't a doubt but that I could get 
a chance to work as a green hand, until I had made 
application at every yard in the place. Failing to 
get a job there, I took passage in a steamboat for 
Portland. 

On the passage to the latter place, in conversation 
with one of the passengers, I told him what I was 
in pursuit of, and my hope that I could get a job in 
Portland, also telling him of my unsuccessful attempt 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TEADE. 203 

in Belfast. He says, " If you fail in Portland, push 
right on to Newburyport, where there are near a dozen 
ship-yards, and you will probably get a chance to 
work in some of them." After arriving in Portland, 
I made application at a few yards for work, but was 
refused ; and as the chances must be more favorable 
in JSTewburyport, and my money would barely take me 
ithere, I took the four, p.m., train, landing in New- 
buryport about eight o'clock. 

I put up at the American House for the night, not 
doubting, that, before another day would pass by, I 
should get a job. Before retiring, I found out by the 
landlord, that the shipyards were some two miles from 
the tavern, at a place called Bellville, on the Merri- 
mac River. 

After breakfast the next morning, I started out full 
of sanguine hopes and buoyant expectations of get- 
ting a job, at least before night. The first application 
proved a failure. This damped my ardor ; but, as there 
were many other yards, I didn't lose hope. Every 
attempt that day failed. I did not go to dinner on 
account of the long distance. And, although I had 
serious doubts of getting a job at all, still I did not 
lose all hope, as there were some half-dozen more 
yards there and a few miles up river. Whenever I 
applied for work, I noticed they all asked one question, 
viz., " Are you a regular carpenter?" Upon answer- 
ing in the negative, they would say at once, " I don't 
wan.t you." Sometimes I would venture to say that 
I was handy with tools, and in a short time would 
become quite proficient. In response to this, they 
would s^y, " Oh ! I know all about this being handy 



204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

with tools;" continuing, "I have hundreds of appli- 
cations every day, from folks out of the country 
towns, who couldn't tell a ship from a pig-pen ; every 
one of them telling how handy they were with tools." 
The next day's effort proved the same. I began to lose 
hope, but persevered in my endeavors every day, each 
resulting with the same luck. In going back and forth 
from the hotel to the yards, I applied at several sail- 
lofts and one rigging loft, for work, thinking that, if 
I failed ultimately in the shipyards, I could fall back 
on them ; but got no better encouragement there. 

In going towards the yards one day, I passed some 
Irishmen, filling up a new wharf with dirt carried in 
wheelbarrows. I applied to the foreman of the gang 
for a job. He looked me up and down, and turned 
away without saying a word ; evidently suspecting, 
from my dress (I then had on my best clothes) and 
address, that I was insulting him. Every day's effort 
thus far proved like the first. The fourth day I had 
applied to all but one yard, and had plenty of time 
to have tried my luck in that ; but, feeling sure that I 
should not succeed, I thought I would leave it until 
next morning, and face the rebuff I expected, upon 
a full stomach. After breakfast, I started for the 
last and only chance. I Avalked rapidly, feeling that 
I might as well know my fate at once, as to be dread- 
ing it ; but when nearing the vicinity of the yard I felt 
a sort of weakness in my limbs, that almost deprived 
me of locomotion ; and instead of applying at once, as 
I had determined upon, when I got into the yard I 
passed directly through it, and sat down on a large 
oak log, roughed out for a windlass as I afterwards 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 205 

learned, to gather strength to meet the rebuff com- 
posedly. I sat there, all doubled up ; for, to tell the 
truth, I felt so weak that I could hardly sit up 
straight if I had attempted it, thinking what I 
should do if I failed here, which I felt almost sure 
would be the result. 

After sitting a few moments, I heard my myste- 
rious unseen friend say, " Ship as a full hand." 
Although I well knew that I could not do it with 
justice to myself, as I must soon be found out in the 
deception, the thought flashed through my mind in- 
stantly, " They'll keep you a week before discharging 
you ; and by that time you will get enough to pay 
your bills, and get to Boston." Upon this I jumped 
off the log as light as ever, determined to try it, let 
it go which way it might. In answer to my inquiry 
for the foreman, they said he was inside the ship. I 
immediately started to find him. They were putting 
in the lower deck frame ; and, upon inquiry again, 
I found him down aft, overseeing some work. In 
response to the query, if he wanted any more help, 
he answered by asking the same question that all the 
rest had, viz., " Are you a carpenter ? " I said, " Yes, 
sir." — "Well, then, you can go to work at once." 
Up to this time I hadn't thought of tools : regular 
carpenters must provide their own tools, while green 
hands are furnished by their employers. This thought 
going through my mind, I told him I couldn't go to 
work to-day, as my tools hadn't got along. He says, 
" Can't you borrow some ? " I said, " No : I know no 
one to borrow of." He continued, " Can't you come 
on after dinner?" I told him I would get me a 

18 



206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

boarding-house, and come on to-morrow (which would 
be Saturday) or else on Monday. After I had agreed 
to go to work, I remember thinking what a muss I had 
got into, with no tools, and even if I had them I didn't 
know how to use them expertly. As these thoughts 
coursed rapidly through my mind, for a moment I 
felt sorry that I had been so rash ; but I felt that if 
I had overleaped the bounds of discretion my desper- 
ate situation was an ample excuse, and now there was 
no other alternative, but to make the best of it, and 
go ahead. I loitered around among the workmen 
some half-hour or so, when, upon the recommendation 
of one of the men, I made application to a Mr. Watson 
for board, who consented to take me in. This being 
settled, I went immediately to the American House, 
to change my clothes, and told the proprietor that I 
had a job in a shipyard, and that, as I hadn't means 
to pay my board, I would change my clothes, and 
leave my trunk as security. 

He objected to this, telling me to take my trunk 
along ; he wasn't afraid to trust me. The fact was, 
he was too kind ; for I hadn't a cent of money to pay 
for moving the trunk, and for this reason should have 
esteemed it a favor if he would let it remain. I had 
another reason why I didn't want to take it away ; 
and that was, I didn't expect, nor had I the least hope, 
that they would keep me more than one week, if they 
did that, and by keeping it where it was I would save 
two cartage bills. However, I changed my clothes, 
determined to let it remain, whether he wanted it or 
not ; but in going towards the yard I happened to 
meet Mr. Watson, with whom I had agreed for board, 






LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 207 

coming from market with a horse and wagon. The 
moment I saw him, I was impressed to ask him to go 
to the hotel, and get my trunk, which he willingly 
did. 

After getting the trunk into my room, I sat down to 
take a square look at things as they actually existed. 
In the first place, I took into account the novel situ- 
ation in which I found myself, wondering how it 
would terminate. From an old superstition instilled 
into me when a child, " Never to go into any new 
enterprise the last day of the week or month," I 
did not quite like the idea of going to work on the 
morrow, Saturday ; and, if I put it off until Monday, 
that would be the last day of April. If ever I needed 
every thing to be favorable, it was now; and that 
superstition troubled me. Upon reflection, however, 
I concluded the day wouldn't make much difference, 
as I should not probably work over a week, whether 
I commenced on the first or last day of the week or 
month : so I determined to commence to-morrow, hit 
or miss. 

After dinner I went into the yard ; and as I saw 
the workmen at their allotted work, doing it with 
much facility, I wondered what sort of a "fist" I 
should make of it. To say the least, my situation 
was a novel one, and I didn't know but that my 
courage would fail when the time came to show my 
skill in shipbuilding. However, I didn't allow the 
thoughts of what might be the result of to-morrow, 
to poison the hopeful anticipations of the present. 

The next morning I went into the yard with the 
rest, and, when the bell rang at seven, went into the 



208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

ship to join the gang working inside. I went down 
aft, where I saw Mr. Ewell, the foreman, who saluted 
me cordially, seeming to be pleased that he had an- 
other skilled workman added to his list. It is custom- 
ary for ship-carpenters to work in pairs ; and he at 
once told me to work with Mr. Allen, pointing him 
out. I saw that Allen was a boarder at the house 
where I was stopping, and also my bedfellow. This 
was a happy incident, as, from what little I had seen 
of him, he appeared to have a happy, genial disposi- 
tion, which proved to be true. 

Recognizing me as I approached, he congratulated 
himself at having me for a partner, little thinking 
what a green chap I was. I told him at once, that 
my tools hadn't got along, and I couldn't go to work 
unless I could borrow some, until they came to hand. 
" Oh ! " he says, " I guess I can manage that for you." 
Suiting the action to the word, he started for the 
shop where his chest was deposited. He took out 
an old rule in the first place, and then some pretty 
well worn tools, observing, " I guess you can get along 
a few days with these, and some I'm at work with." 
With this we went to work, he on one and I on the 
opposite side of the ship. 

To answer the inquiry, how I managed to get 
along without betraying my ignorance, I need only to 
refer the reader to my early history as detailed here- 
tofore, to show that I could always do almost any 
thing with tools from my earliest boyhood. 

This Mr. Allen, my working partner, was a very 
slow-moving man, and I the opposite. As we were 
faying knees, they being heavy, we were obliged to 



LEARKIKG THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 209 

assist each other in getting them in their places. I 
would allow him to make a beginning first, watching 
him narrowly to see how he " done it." Taking the 
cue from him, I would commence on my side, and, being 
much the quicker motioned, often came out ahead. 
By knocking off time at night, I had got the run of 
things pretty well, and thought, that, if there was 
nothing more difficult to do than what I had seen, I 
didn't apprehend any difficulty in keeping up the 
delusion until I had earned enough to pay my bills, 
and get to Boston. 

Thus it will be seen, that the first day of my novel 
undertaking had ended successfully. The next day 
being Sunday, I spent the most of the time with my 
partner, the principal topic of conversation running 
on ships and ship-building, watching myself so as not 
to say any thing to unmask my total ignorance of 
ship-building. 

After dinner we took a walk to the yard, and went 
inside the ship. Once, when talking about the busi- 
ness, he asked me where I served my apprenticeship. 
I simply told him " down in Maine ; " and to prevent 
him from asking me at what town or place (for I 
didn't know the name of a builder in the State), I 
purposely changed the conversation to something 
else. 

I went to work Monday with suppressed feelings 
of pleasure ; and as everybody, including the foreman, 
seemed to look upon me as an extra good workman, 
I began to feel that somehow or other I had been 
more fortunate than most mortals, in becoming so 
suddenly a master-workman at a business in which 

18* 



210 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I was entirely ignorant, or else those overseeing the 
work were remarkably stupid in not detecting the 
fraud. Still I did not feel sure of keeping the favor- 
able impression I had already created. They might 
not say any thing if they did see things going wrong 
in my work, and yet might discharge me at any mo- 
ment. So after I had worked almost five days, to get 
an indication whether they were satisfied with me or 
not, I went out into the yard, and seeing Mr. Jack- 
man, the proprietor, moulding out some timber, I told 
him I wanted to get fifteen dollars. He looked up, 
saying, "Do I owe it you?" I said, "No; but you 
will." I then said I had occasion to use that amount ; 
and, if he was willing to risk it, I should feel much 
obliged to him. Without any ceremony, he took out 
his wallet, and gave me the money. This satisfied me 
that I was all right for at least another week ; and, if 
nothing happened to uncover my deficiencies, I might 
be kept on for an indefinite period. 

That evening I wrote home, enclosing ten dollars, 
telling of my successful dash in my new occupation, 
going into all the details as to how it was brought 
about. With the other five dollars, I bought me a 
good second-hand axe and adze, which, added to 
those I borrowed, made quite a respectable "kit." 
To show how ignorant I was, also how carefully I had 
to watch myself not to make blunders, it is only ne- 
cessary to say that I worked two days with my dull 
adze, not knowing whether to knock the handle out 
to grind it, or not, though reason and common-sense 
might have told me that the handle must come out 
in order to grind it properly ; but, never having seen 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 211 

it done, I dared not risk it until I was sure. A couple 
of days after it became mine, a man working near me 
said, " My adze is as dull as a hoe," at the same time 
knocking out the handle with a mallet, and starting 
for the grindstone. No sooner than I saw this ma- 
noeuvre, I had the handle out of mine, and was on the 
way to the grindstone also. 

After this I had no more trouble in that direction. 
The beginning of the second week, one of the men 
wanted to sell his chest and a few tools, as he was 
going out of the carpenter business. Looking at 
them one day at noon, in company with my mate, in 
answer to question of price he said fifteen dollars. 
I told him I hadn't the money, else I'd buy them. 
My partner offered to loan it to me, which I accepted, 
and took the key. My tools had come at last, and 
nobody but myself the wiser as to where they came 
from. 

Up to this time I hadn't hinted a word to Mr. 
Allen about my adventure, although I wanted to do 
so many times ; but, the evening succeeding the day 
he loaned me the money, I told him the whole story 
as heretofore detailed. At first he thought I was 
joking, but I soon convinced him to the contrary ; 
then he burst out into uncontrollable laughter. After 
this revelation of my fraud, we had the fun all to 
ourselves. Sometimes when at work, and thinking 
over the ridiculous and dangerous but successful 
subterfuge I had resorted to to get work, he would 
burst out laughing by himself. I asking him the cause 
of his levity, he would say he got thinking what a 
long apprenticeship I had to serve to gain the dis- 



212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

tinction of being one of the best ship-carpenters out. 
After I made this disclosure, and also that I had 
commanded a ship in the whaling business, he told 
me some of his history. He was a sailor also, and 
had commanded several small vessels coastwise and 
in the West India trade. Getting tired of that, he 
left the sea only three years ago, and took up the 
carpenter trade ; continuing, that he thought he was 
doing a rather smart business to palm himself off as 
a first-class mechanic, without having learned any- 
trade, and with only three years' experience ; but, 
says he, " You've taken all the wind out of my sails." 
In getting in some large timbers for lower-deck 
stringers, after I had been at work a little over two 
weeks, I accidentally got my left knee jammed in 
between two of the timbers, which hurt it very much. 
At the time I feared I would lose my leg, but upon 
examination found no bones broken ; and, by apply- 
ing lobelia soaked in rum, took the swelling down, 
and kept it so, and in a few days could get about on 
crutches. After laying up three or four days, I 
hobbled down to the yard one morning, and, seeing 
Mr. Ewell, asked him if there was nothing I could 
do in the shop. I told him I could do any light 
work, and couldn't afford to lose so much time. He 
said yes, I could " go into the loft, and see to the 
making a set of moulds for a new ship ; " he going 
upon the idea that I was well versed in all depart- 
ments of the art of ship-building. This was a poser ; 
for,, to begin with, I had never been inside of a 
drafting or moulding loft, and, what was more, knew 
positively nothing about it. He very kindly told 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 213 

me I needn't do much, only to see that a man he 
had working there made no mistakes, and to keep 
him at work. Here I was being promoted to a 
boss, to oversee the most complicated and difficult 
part of the whole business. I was sorry I had said 
any thing about work; but I had got into it, and had 
no way of getting out without acknowledging myself 
a fraud, which would not do, for now I was looked 
upon as one of the brightest stars that " twinkled " 
in the " constellation " of ship-carpentry. After 
seeing to things in the yard, he took me in his wagon, 
and drove to the loft, some mile or so from the yard. 
After getting into the loft he commenced to " run 
in " what I afterwards learned was one of the 
4 cants " to the " after-body " of the new ship. The 
floor was full of pencil-marks crossing each other 
every which way, neither head nor tail to them that 
I could see. His talking about "lifts" and "water- 
lines," " sir-marks," " diagonals," and " horn-poles," 
with many other like expressions, were all Greek to 
me. But there was one thing that wasn't Greek ; 
and that was, my head was more muddled up than 
ever before. I hadn't been in the loft ten minutes, 
when, if asked how much twice two was, I couldn't 
have told ; for now I had got into a place where no 
quantity of assurance, backed up with ever so much 
" cheek," would avail a particle. The fact is, one 
must know for himself, or he can do positively 
nothing. Mr. Ewell evidently thought I could 
model and draft a ship's frame as readily as himself. 
I said nothing, and let him think so ; for, if I had 
ventured to have said a word, I should have exposed 



214 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

my verdancy, and the fat would have been all in the 
fire, and I would at once sink into the very insignifi- 
cant artisan that I really was. What I had said or 
done, for everybody to place such an estimate upon 
my knowledge, I couldn't conceive. They could 
never have found out by my work : there was not the 
ghost of an apology for awarding me such superior 
qualifications because of any thing I had done there. 
However, I went on the principle, that if we are 
thought to be something more than we can rightfully 
claim, and keep our tongues still, few can tell whether 
we really possess the merit or not. Mr. Ewell was a 
great talker, and, when looking over his work, could 
not think without talking about it. By following 
the sweeps as he traced them out on the floor, I got 
a sort of an indistinct idea that somehow or other 
the moulds must be made to correspond to these 
mysterious and to me incomprehensible lines, the 
beginning and ending of which were wrapped up in 
impenetrable mystery. In looking over some of the 
sweeps run in the day before, and thinking that he 
detected a mistake, he asked me to hand him the 
" horn-pole " for the " after-body," by which he could 
ascertain whether there was an error or not. I knew 
that a pole was a straight stick, but a " horn-pole " 
was a " puzzler." I knew cattle's horns were 
crooked ; and whether it was a crooked stick, and 
from that fact called a " horn-pole," that he wanted, 
I hadn't the slightest conception. 

I noticed that when telling me to get this mysteri- 
ous pole he looked in a certain direction, indicating 
by that the direction to them or it, whatever it 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 215 

might be, from where he stood : so I hobbled along in 
that direction, with my crutch, wishing all the time 
my leg ten times worse, which would have prevented 
me from coming there at all. I saw some straight 
sticks, but nothing that looked like a "horn." I 
stood there, supported by my crutch, not daring to 
select any one, for fear of falling from the lofty 
distinction they had forced upon me. Finally, after 
looking a moment or two,. I ventured to say I 
didn't see it. Upon this, he came to where I stood, 
and took up a straight stick, instead of a " horny " 
looking pole, sajdng, as he stooped, " Here it is." 
" So it is," says I. But, as good luck would have it, 
it was partly obscured by other straight " horn " 
poles, thus saving my reputation of being a crack 
draughtsman. At another time, a few minutes subse- 
quent to the last incident, he had occasion to ascer- 
tain the distance, in feet and inches, from one part 
of what he was doing, to some other part, as I was 
standing near a bench, on which lay the draft on a 
very small scale of the whole ship, that is, the water- 
lines. These lines give the exact shape of the ship 
fore and aft, if submerged in the water, every two 
feet from the keel to the gunwale. These water- 
lines are called " lifts*" So he says, " Just give me 
the distance out on the third lift." Here was another 
puzzler. What a lift meant, was as much a mystery 
to me as the horn-pole business. I had got out of 
one dilemma, only to get into another. However, I 
took out my rule, knowing, or rather thinking, that, 
as there were feet and inches wrapped up in the 
mystery, that the rule was the necessary instrument 



216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

to determine it. This was a mistake, as far as meas- 
uring on that small scale was concerned. I tried to 
find out what he meant by " third lift," not seeing 
any thing to indicate the word. I stood there, 
gazing at the draft, in a sort of dazed stupor, the 
perspiration pouring out of every pore in my body, 
caused by my ridiculous position. 

Being in a hurry, Mr. Ewell came again to my 
rescue ; and, taking up a pair of dividers, opened 
them until the two points rested on the space to be 
measured, then, applying them to his rule, calculated 
the feet and inches desired. Thus I saved my 
unsought reputation again. After seeing him do it, 
all was simple. Soon after ten, a.m., he left me to 
"boss" the mould-making, telling the man at work, 
a Mr. Mitchell, that I would instruct him if any 
difficulty occurred. 

I was never more pleased than to see him close the 
door behind him. I found Mr. Mitchell an intelli- 
gent and well-informed man, also well versed in 
what he was doing ; and, as he thought me an adept 
in the business, I had not the least difficulty in keep- 
ing up the delusion. I found out, through him, all 
about those complicated lines crossing each other; 
and, with what I got out of him while Mr. Ewell was 
absent, I began really to know something about the 
mystery of " laying down " a ship. 

I was in the loft about five days, before my leg 
would allow me to go into the yard again ; in which 
time I got so well posted, that I could have taken a 
model, and made moulds from it, without much if 
any further instruction. Thus, through the accident 



LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 217 

of hurting my leg, I secured information of vast sub- 
sequent importance to me, as will be seen farther on ; 
also proof that sometimes vast and important results 
date their significance from a very slight and often 
seemingly disastrous circumstance. 

Because I slid into important knowledge so easily, 
I do not arrogate to myself superior faculties for 
acquiring information. That would be a serious 
error, which I should sadly deplore. As will be 
seen, it all emanated, as did my previous perceptions, 
from circumstances over which I, as an individual, 
had not the least control. I do not expect that each 
and every boy or grown-up man could go through 
these exceptional experiences with the same quiet 
unconcern that has characterized my various pro- 
ceedings ; and for the reason that all do not possess 
the same sensitive temperament and natural mecli- 
umistic traits that I do. If they could hear sugges- 
tions from unseen sources, telling them how to avoid 
getting into difficulties, and helping them out when 
in, then, as a matter of course, they could do precise- 
ly as I have done. Looking at things in that light 
takes away all vain feeling of superiority, and, in its 
stead, creates a humble state of mind, unknown to 
the egotistical, self-sufficient, arrogant. 

Nothing else worth recording occurred, until I had 
worked near a month, when I got it into my head 
that I could sooner master the business by taking 
jobs, and employing first-class workmen ; with what I 
had already acquired, and what I could soon get out 
of them, I could attain the top round of the ladder 
much sooner than by working by the day. The 

19 



218 ATJTOBIOGKAPHY. 

more I thought of it, the more feasible it looked; 
and I determined to put it into immediate execution. 
To do this, would necessitate moving to some other 
place. I made inquiries, and found that ship-build- 
ing was carried on quite extensively at Damariscotta, 
Me. ; and, that place being nearer my family, I deter- 
mined to go there. 

I said nothing to any one about my anticipated 
movement, not even to Mr. Allen, my much-esteemed 
partner. My reputation as a first-rate carpenter had 
by this time become universally admitted, not only 
by the foreman and proprietor, but also by the work- 
men themselves, a class who are generally jealous 
and chary in admitting the superiority of any over 
themselves. From this, I had good reason to believe 
that I should have difficulty in getting away. 

To obviate this, I went up town the evening pre- 
ceding the day I intended to leave, got a ticket to 
go on the eight, P.M., train the next night, and en- 
gaged an expressman to take my trunk and chest at 
six the following evening to the depot. When I told 
Mr. Allen, and the folks I boarded with, of my sud- 
den resolve upon departure, they expressed a good 
deal of regret. After supper, and after my things 
were on the road to the depot, I went to the office, 
and told Mr. Jackman that sickness in my family 
rendered it necessary for me to start for home im- 
mediately. (My wife was sick at the time.) He 
said, " You won't want all your money ; " he thinking, 
if he kept back a part, I would be more likely to re- 
turn. I told him I should need all I had due me, and 
more too. He then offered to loan me what I thought 






LEARNING THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE. 219 

I should need, which of course I refused. I almost 
regretted that I had been so precipitate, after I 
found out how much confidence he had in me. 
However, it was too late then to change the pro- 
gramme. I had worked in all thirty-one clays and a 
quarter, at two dollars and a quarter per day, the 
highest wages paid then ; for which he paid me, and 
I was off to encounter new scenes, new associations, 
and fresh experiences in the humdrum of life. Thus 
it will be seen that a wonderful change in my cir- 
cumstances had been wrought in that short space of 
time, all of which emanated from that brief sentence 
of my invisible friend, who told me in clear, distinct 
words, to " ship as a full hand." 

I arrived at Damariscotta in due time, and suc- 
ceeded, in a day or two, in getting a job of ^Abner 
Stetson, to put in the two deck-frames and finish 
the top of a large ship he was building ; for this I 
received ample compensation. After finishing that 
job, I took another, which, having finished, I went 
home, where I remained through the winter with my 
family. With nothing else I could find to do, I sat 
down to cobbling again, and kept it up until spring. 

About the middle of March, I went to Rockland 
in pursuit of my now legitimate business, ship-build- 
ing. After a short time I succeeded in getting a small 
vessel to build, of a Mr. Rhoades. She measured 
only about two hundred tons, and was named Henry 
C. Lowell, after a celebrated lawyer of that name. 

In May I had my family moved to Rockland, and 
in the fall got a job of a Mr. Robert Sweetland of 
South Thomaston, where I moved my family late in 



220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the fall. I didn't get to work on my job until the 
following April, working in the mean time repairing 
an old vessel for Capt. Israel Snow. The following 
summer, finished my first job, and took the decks of 
two other vessels to put in, and finish their tops. 
One of the two was on the ship " Kate Sweetland," 
built by James Sweetland and Charles McLoon ; the 
other was a bark, built by George Thorndike. 

These jobs lasted until into the winter months ; 
and, as I had made up my mind to go to California 
the ensuing spring, I moved my family back to our 
own home at Weeks's Mills, South China, where I 
remained until the following March, when I was 
ready to start on my contemplated trip to the gold- 
fields of California ; the details of which will be found 
in the succeeding chapter. 



CHAPTER XII. 

INCIDENTS OK A VOYAGE TO THE GOLD-MINES OF 
CALIFORNIA, AND RETURN, 1849. 

As stated in the preceding chapter, I had deter- 
mined to go to California in the spring following my 
work in South Thomaston in 1848. 

My brother Thomas had gone out there, on the 
first vessel that left after the gold-fever had broken 
out ; and his writing home wonderful stories about 
getting gold, telling of the chances for accumulating 
a competence in most alluring terms, tended to 
increase my desire, and determined me to try the 
exciting business, and see what Dame Fortune would 
vouchsafe me. 

As there had been published all over the country, 
in all the papers, exaggerated accounts of awful 
murders and daring highway robberies, my family 
and friends tried to persuade me not to risk myself 
among such a wild set of desperadoes. 

All through the winter, these stories, accumulating 
more and more each succeeding week, worked upon 
their excited feelings to such a degree, that they 
hardly dared to walk on the street in a country town 
in the night-time, for fear of meeting some more 
daring ruffians than ever existed except in excited, 

19* 221 



222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

overwrought, and muddled craniums. As I had been 
used to roughing it all through life, these stories had 
no other effect than to strengthen my resolutidn, and 
generate stronger desires than ever to mingle in the 
exciting scenes of a camp-life in the mountain 
regions of California. 

Although I had said nothing about it to any one, 
not even my wife, I had fixed upon the first day of 
March to start ; and, as I had said little about it, my 
folks, and especially my mother, thought, or was in 
hopes, I had given it up altogether. I expected, 
when I settled up my business the fall before, that I 
should have means sufficient to get me there, and 
some to spare ; but I was owing some, which I did not 
expect to be, and yet was, called upon to pay, which, 
with other unforeseen drafts, reduced my sum-total, 
by March, to a little over a hundred dollars. The 
cheapest fare to California was over four hundred 
dollars ; and my folks thought that I wouldn't under- 
take such an enterprise with my slim purse. But 
they had reckoned without their host. The 1st of 
March found me sick abed, which prevented me from 
going as I had intended. I had contracted a very 
bad cold, which culminated in a lung-fever. Although 
they did not want me to suffer, I could see their 
secret satisfaction at my inability to sit up, all 
claiming that it was an interposition of the Lord to 
prevent me from risking my valuable life among 
thieves, robbers, and murderers. This was very kind 
and considerate in them, and I fully appreciated 
their kindly feelings ; but it only strengthened my 
resolve to go ahead at all hazards. The Sunday pre- 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 223 

ceding the 8th, which came on Wednesday, father 
and mother made me a visit. I still was unable to 
sit up a moment. After they had been in the house 
a few minutes, mother came to the bedside with her 
sweet smiling face, and said, " Now, David, thee 
can't go to California, because thee has no money to 
go with." (They all knew about my lack of funds, 
and couldn't help showing their pleasure.) " Mother," 
I said, " I leave for California Wednesday." I had 
not thought of it, until I heard myself speak the 
words. She says, "How can thee go so soon, even 
if thee had the money to get thee there, thee's so 
sick?" She begged me not to think of it. I told 
her I knew I w^as very sick, but somehow or other I 
thought I should start on that day. I didn't dare to 
tell her that I heard my mysterious friend set the 
day ; for, had I, my friends would certainly have said 
that I was out of my head. How I should get there 
I didn't know. I wasn't sure of going there at all. 
I only heard the words, " Start on Wednesday." I 
knew I must leave some money at home, which 
would reduce my meagre pile that much. I thought 
that I would go to New York, and maybe I could get 
a chance to work my passage ; or, if I failed in that, 
I would go to work in a shipyard until I got enough 
to go with. Monday found me better. I engaged a 
neighbor by the name of Choate to take my chest, 
trunk, and self to Augusta early Wednesday morning. 
When it came round, I left about forty dollars at 
home, and with sixty-five dollars started on my 
voj^age to California. I pushed on to New York as 
fast as possible, landing there on the 10th with fifty- 
eight dollars and a few cents in my pocket. 



224 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Having landed near night, I put up at a cheap 
hotel near the Battery, a resort for countrymen 
and the rougher part of down-town folks, such as 
butchers, dairymen, &c. I intended to look round 
next day, and see what I could do about getting to 
the Eldorado of the Pacific slope. While sitting in 
the bar-room after supper, listening to the conversa- 
tion of a large crowd speculating about the gold 
region (at that time it was the principal topic of 
conversation among all parties), I noticed two young 
men sitting near me, talking in a suppressed tone 
upon the general subject. By their looks I took 
them to be brothers. One was encouraging the 
other to persevere in something, I couldn't hear 
what, and anticipating that he would come out all 
right. I noticed them looking at me occasionally ; 
and directly the youngest-looking one asked me if 
I was going to California. I told him I left home 
for that purpose, but couldn't tell until I had looked 
round some. At this they hitched their chairs 
nearer, when all three of us got into an earnest 
conversation upon the all-absorbing subject. 

At last the youngest said, "I too started for 
California ; but, never having been absent from home 
a night in my life, I feel somewhat discouraged about 
going farther ; " continuing, " This," pointing to his 
partner, " is my brother. He came to New York to 
see me off, and seeing my despondency has been 
trying to encourage me to go ahead." Then he said, 
"I wish you was going along, I should feel so 
much better." From this I concluded that he had 
formed a favorable estimate of my virtues. 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 225 

After a while, they both put in for me to go, hold- 
ing up before my mind, in most extravagant colors, 
very flattering prospects. What they said didn't in 
the least increase my ardor, for I had the fever as 
bad or worse than either. The elder brother said he 
would have made arrangements to go along, only 
that he had a family, that both parents were invalids, 
and there was no one else to take care of them, and 
run the place. They were, farmers from the interior 
of the State of New York. While they were plead- 
ing with all their rustic eloquence to induce me to 
go, I heard my unseen friend whisper, " Sell your 
tools, and go along." This I hadn't thought of, until 
I heard the VOICE speak it. Finally I told them, that 
I was a little short of funds, but if I could sell my 
chest of tools, pointing it out, I would go. Upon 
inquiry how much I asked for them, I said fifty dol- 
lars. I told them what the tools were, and the oldest 
said, " I guess I'll buy them," but, counting his money, 
found he had only just that amount, and said, " If I 
buy them, how am I to get home? " The other says, 
"I will let you have enough for that." Upon this the 
trade was closed, he handing me over the fifty dollars, 
remarking, as he did so, " They'll come handy on the 
farm : I've been long thinking I would like to have 
such tools." 

I said nothing about how much I had before I got 
this ; and they naturally supposed I had plenty, and 
only wanted to get rid of my tools. This being set- 
tled, we commenced to talk about what sort of fit-out 
we must get, and continued conversing until bed- 
time. 



226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The next morning bright and early, we were up 
and dressed, got breakfast, and started out. In the 
first place, we must find a conveyance to Chagres. 
After a little inquiry, ascertained that the steamship 
" Georgia " would sail for Chagres in about three days. 
We purchased tickets for the latter place for fifty 
dollars each ; and by the time I had purchased my 
outfit, and paid my bills at the hotel, I had a ten- 
dollar gold piece, and an old-fashioned, smooth, 
Down-East ninepence left. With this I had got 
to get from Chagres to San Francisco ; how, I didn't 
know ; but as I had received instructions to " try it," 
from a source that had never failed to furnish means 
in an emergency, I thought some way would turn 
up by which I could get up the coast. 

The " Georgia " was a new ship of over three thou- 
sand tons register. All her officers belonged to the 
United States Navy, and she was commanded by 
Lieut. Rogers. There were five hundred steerage 
and three hundred cabin passengers. 

When we went on board I hunted for my berth, 
the number on my ticket being 478 ; but upon inves- 
tigation I found that there were only about 250 
berths, all told, iD the steerage. I will not attempt 
to describe the scene, among hundreds of passengers, 
after they had ascertained that there were less than 
half berths enough for them. Suffice it to say, such 
swearing and imprecations I never heard before. The 
officers put up some temporary berths every night, to 
be taken down in the morning, but not half enough 
to accommodate the passengers. This was sufficient 
cause for perpetual murmurings and growling ; and, 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 227 

to make things still worse, we stopped off Charleston, 
S.C., to bury two of the passengers who died from 
pneumonia on the passage ; and learned there that the 
steamship " Falcon " from New Orleans was on her 
way to meet us at Havana, and transfer four hun- 
dred passengers on to our already overloaded ship, to 
be carried to Chagres. This news created the great- 
est excitement imaginable. The passengers got up 
indignation meetings, appointed a committee to wait 
upon the captain, and protest against taking on any 
more passengers. 

The committee consisted of three, of which I was 
one. I told them, while they were talking about it, 
how it would turn out ; that the captain had nothing 
to do but navigate the ship from place to place as the 
owners, or their agents, might dictate. But they 
were very boisterous ; and, for one, I didn't 'dare to 
refuse to comply with their wishes. The captain 
received us very courteously; but the mission ended 
precisely as I told them it would. The thirteenth day 
after leaving New York, we passed in by the Moro 
Castle, a large and magnificent fort, mounted with 
the heaviest guns, completely guarding the entrance 
into the harbor, and commanding the city. 

Here the most frothy and disaffected passengers 
besieged the American consul's office, imploring that 
functionary to intervene his official influence, and pre- 
vent any more passengers coming on board. Their 
applications proving abortive, they became desperate, 
and threatened all sorts of things. Some would sue 
the owners when they got home ; others were going 
to stop the ship.; and still others threatened to hang 



228 ATTTOBIOGKAPHY. 

the captain at the yardarm if another passenger came 
on board. While they were talking with the con- 
sul, the " Falcon" steamed alongside of our ship, and 
transferred four hundred passengers with their lug- 
gage. Some of our passengers then left for home : 
whether they ever got any satisfaction, I never heard. 

As soon as this last instalment of passengers had 
been transferred to our ship, we got our anchor, and 
steamed out to sea, and four days after anchored in 
Chagres, about half-past nine, A.M. ; and before night 
every passenger and their luggage was out of the 
ship. 

Some of my friends, unbeknown to me, had suc- 
ceeded in procuring the services of a Mr. Smith, who' 
owned a large flat-bottomed rowboat, to take us up 
the river to Gorgona situated at the head of naviga- 
tion for even boats ; the compensation to be thirty- 
two dollars each, payable in advance. The boys had 
all paid their passage, and taken their places in the 
boat, while I lingered on the bank : they were wait- 
ing forme to get in. Seeing me hesitate, unconscious 
of the cause, they kept saying, " Come, captain, get 
in." I made no response, but stood there like a " mum- 
chance" (whatever that may mean), in a sort of 
stupor. Mr. Smith, who was standing in the stern 
near me, said, " If you are going, get in." Upon this I 
stepped in, and handed him my " eagle " (ten dollars), 
saying at the same time in a suppressed tone, " That 
is all I can give." He took it, and said, " Say noth- 
ing; " and I didn't say " nothing." 

This was four, p.m. The boat was rowed by six 
natives : we kept on until sunset, when opposite a 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 229 

small town, the houses made of large bamboo reeds, 
roofs thatched with straw. The boat was laid alongside 
of the bank, and we made preparations for camping out 
for the first time in our lives. I was well acquainted 
with all in the boat, with two exceptions ; that is, as 
well as one could be in the time we had been associ- 
ated : at any rate, they had much confidence in my 
integrity and honor ; and as I was a rare one in the 
gang, because not addicted to drink, they made me a 
sort of bank of deposit for their valuables, while 
they were carousing and drinking among the natives. 
When the time came to settle the bills, they all agreed 
that I should pay nothing, as I was their guardian. On 
account of the low stage of the river, we didn't arrive 
at our destination by boat until the third day about 
two, p.m. We were now within twenty-two miles of 
the city of Panama, from whence we hoped to get a 
conveyance up the coast. 

It was a question with our gang, which would be 
the best way to get over these twenty-two miles. 
Some, in fact nearly all, thought it best to purchase 
mules, or hire some to take us over the road, and dis- 
pose of them as best we could at Panama. Finally 
they appealed to me, to see what method I thought 
best. Of course to purchase a mule, at even a low 
price, would make a fearful draft upon my nine-pence, 
which I desired to keep intact. As I had more than 
compensated the company for my grub thus far, I 
didn't feel beholden to them ; further, if the state of 
my finances had been exactly opposite from what 
they were, I should not have favored either buying 
or hiring mules except to carry our trunks, &c. So 
20 



230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I told them, that as there were but twenty-two miles 
to go, and over the best road in the world, the moon 
being full and the weather hot, by starting at sunset 
on foot we could make the distance easier and quicker 
than on mules ; and by keeping together should be 
safe from marauders ; also that, if we chose to do so, 
we could get refreshments and take a short nap at 
the half-way house. All but two agreed to my propo- 
sition, and at sunset started on shanks' mare, for a 
night's walk. The moon made the night almost as 
light as day. We took a rest at the half-way house 
a couple of hours, then proceeded on our way, and 
entered the city of Panama Sunday morning, April 
1, 1849, just as the sun was rising and illuminating 
the broad expanse of the Pacific. 

We found the city filled with people, estimated at 
5,000, on their way to the gold-mines, waiting for a 
chance to get up the coast ; consequently every hotel 
and boarding-house was filled to repletion, and prices 
for accommodation were raised to fabulous rates. 
After breakfast we held a consultation about the 
best course to pursue, and how Ave should get along 
until we could get away. As the length of time was 
uncertain it was necessary to economize our expenses 
as much as possible, especially on my part. Finally 
it was agreed to get some place to stop in, and get 
our food as best we could. I was appointed to hunt 
round, and see what I could find ; they were to keep 
together until I could report. In this mission I was 
remarkably fortunate ; for in less than a half-hour I 
found and hired a hall, large enough to accommodate 
all hands, at ten cents a day per man. We were not 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 231 

long in taking possession of our new quarters, well 
pleased at our good fortune. 

Assisted by Charlie Mason, a cabinet-maker from 
Lowell, with whom I had been on intimate terms 
since we left New York, I took possession of the 
valuables of the company, he and I taking turns 
in doing sentinel duty all day; and before night I 
had got completely rested. 

I had been thinking occasionally through the day 
about how I should get to my destination. I had 
heard it said that a small amount of gold could be 
drawn out fine enough to encircle the globe; but 
how my ninepence, which I still had intact, could be 
stretched out so as to cover five hundred dollars, was 
an enigma hard to solve ; and although the vast mul- 
titude waiting to get up the coast, any one of whom 
could pay almost any amount asked, only tended 
to enhance the difficulty, still I felt comparatively 
easy. The thought every now and then would 
intrude itself, that somehow or other something 
would turn up by which I could get out of the diffi- 
culty ; how, I had not the remotest idea. Finally, 
about six o'clock, p.m., while lying on the floor think- 
ing these things over, I heard my unseen friend say, 
"Let us take a walk," or, "Take a walk," I do not 
remember which sentence. However, as I had be- 
come so accustomed to heed whatever came from this 
mysterious source, I jumped up at once, and told 
Charlie that I was going to take a walk. I sallied 
out, and intuitively headed for the beach. I sup- 
posed, that, as I had been lying round all day, my 
friend wanted me to exercise for remedial purposes. 



232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I passed down street ; and just as I had got to the 
lower end of the plaza, or square, I saw looming up 
before me a large, modern-built building, on the end 
of which were the words, " Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company's Office." Instantly I thought I could see 
in this the significance of the invitation to " take a 
walk." At any rate, I felt that in some way or other 
here was an end to my difficulty without making a 
draft upon my ninepence. I retraced my steps with 
pleasant anticipations of the future, but said nothing 
to my friend Charlie about my discovery. 

The next morning bright and early, after a good 
night's sleep, I was on my way to find out what 
would come of my discovery the night before. 
When crossing the plaza, in looking towards the 
building, I saw a man come out, tack a paper up on 
one side of the door-jamb, and retire inside. I kept 
my eye on the paper until I read its contents, which 
I found to be an advertisement for twelve carpenters, 
to go on board the steamship " Oregon," lying at the 
island of Toboga, twelve miles distant. After perus- 
ing its contents, I went into the office to see about a 
job. I told the agent what I wanted. He first asked 
if I had any tools. I knew if I said no, I couldn't 
get the place: therefore I said, " Yes;" and I had, 
but not as many as would be required to do the sim- 
plest kind of work. Upon this he enrolled my name 
on the books, of the company. My compensation was 
to be three dollars per day and board, for one month 
at Toboga, and then the passage up the coast at the 
same pay, besides throwing in the passage. This was 
more than I could have asked. I had not only secured 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 233 

my passage to San Francisco, but was employed for 
six weeks, including the passage, at higher wages 
than I ever received before, with board and passage 
thrown in. After taking my name, he asked me if I 
knew of any other carpenters. Upon answering in 
the affirmative, he told me to fetch them there. Of 
course I made a straight wake to our rendezvous, and, 
selecting such as I knew to be carpenters, told them 
of the chance I had found for prosecuting our voyage, 
and the terms. As it was yet early, we arrived at 
the office before there had been another application 
since I left. Enrolling their names with mine, the 
agent told us to be down at the boat, pointing it out 
on the beach, at nine o'clock, when the captain would 
take us on board. After getting something to eat, 
we took our things, and went to the boat, as happy a 
set of fellows as one would meet with in a lifetime. 
Instead of nine, A.M., it was near eleven before the 
captain made his appearance ; and it was after one 
o'clock before we got on board the ship. 

After getting dinner, the captain sent the purser 
with a request for us to select from among ourselves a 
foreman to take charge of the work. Then first did we 
find out the character of the work. We were to put 
in the after lower saloon, near one hundred feet long. 
To me this was a stunner, for the reason, that although 
I was called, and was in fact, a first-class ship-carpen- 
ter, yet I knew positively nothing about ship-joinery. 
The trades of ship-carpentry and ship-joinery are as 
dissimilar as black and white. So with house-car- 
penters and house-joiners : both have regular trades, 
which are quite dissimilar. Both, however, go under 
20* 



234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the cognomen of carpentry. So it is in other depart- 
ments of mechanics. When I saw the advertisement 
was for carpenters, I never thought but what it meant 
the trade I was familiar with. Not one of us gave it 
a thought, until we were called upon by the purser. 
The officers all belonged to the navy, and were com- 
manded by Lieut. Patterson. 

Not one of the gang seemed willing to take the 
responsibility of being boss, after finding out the 
character of the work. We all pitched upon a Mr. 
Kimball from Portland, Me., who was a first-class 
ship-joiner; but he refused, on the score that most of 
the work ought # to be done by cabinet-makers, and 
said, rather than boss the job, he'd go ashore, and 
stay there until he got a chance up the coast. I said 
nothing, being busy with my own thoughts concern- 
ing the predicament I had got into without a chance 
of getting out of it. Failing in getting Mr. Kim- 
ball to accept the situation, they next turned to me. 
Of course it will be seen, that of all the crew, I was 
perhaps the least qualified. At first I felt surprised 
at their preference, forgetting, for the time being, that 
they were ignorant of my incompetency. I was 
about declining, when I heard my unseen friend say, 
"Try it." This gave me a little strength; for, to 
tell the truth, I felt weak from head to foot at the 
damaging prospects. Thousands of thoughts flashed 
through my brain in an instant ; such as, If somebody 
don't take it, they'll all go ashore, and you with them, 
without money or friends. And besides, I thought 
that if I undertook it, I would not be expected to do 
more than to see that the work was executed prop- 









VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 235 

erly ; and as I could see no way but to try it, as sug- 
gested, and trust to circumstances as to how I should 
manage, with my small stock of knowledge, to boss 
the work satisfactorily. All these things rushed 
through my brain in less time than I can write a 
short paragraph. At last I said, " Well, gentlemen, 
although I do not feel competent for the task, as 
there is no other one willing to take the responsibility, 
111 do the best I can." 

They all seemed pleased at my acceptance, when I 
'followed the " clerk" to the captain's office; who 
received me very cordially, talked about the job, ask- 
ing whether I thought I could get it done by the 
1st of May, &c. I assured him that, as far as I 
could see, there was no difficulty in getting through 
by that time. At this, he took out the plans from 
which we were to work. When he handed me the 
plans, I looked at them carelessly, perceiving which 
he asked me, " Is it a complicated job ? " — " Oh, no ! " 
I said ; at the same time, I knew no more about it 
than he did. The officers, he said, would show me 
where the lumber and materials could be found. 
With this, I went forward, while looking at the 
plans as though I really knew something about 
them. Mr. Kimball observed, if he had known 
they were so plain and simple, he should not have 
objected in taking the responsibility of " bossing " the 
job. I distinctly remember thinking at the time, 
that, if they were so very plain to him, they were all 
Greek to me; but I said nothing. Silence, and wait- 
ing for some favorable circumstance to turn up by 
which my total ignorance might be turned into a 



236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

semblance of knowledge, being my only stock in 
trade, I had to look out sharp, not draw too liber- 
ally upon it, and not lose a reputation that did not 
belong to me until the work was fairly under way. 
As I was " boss," of course the men expected me to 
set them at work ; and I was puzzling my brain how 
I should find out what was to be done. I merely 
knew, or rather heard them say, that a saloon was to 
be put in the ship somewhere ; where, I did not know, 
— whether forward or aft, on deck or between decks ; 
further than this the whole thing was as dark as 
Erebus. I did a good deal of bossing in getting the 
materials on deck, and wished it would last forever. 
I kept busy thinking, while getting the stuff down, 

what the d 1 1 should find for the men to do next. 

In addition to our twelve men there were some half- 
dozen others who had preceded us, and all looking 
up to me for a "job." I was so muddled that what 
little I did know of carpentry began to ooze out of 
my finger-ends ; but, about the time the last stick of 
timber was on deck, I happened to overhear one man 
say to another, " We shall want two or three benches, 
and a half-dozen horses or so." Lucky thought for 
me ! Here was something to busy some of the men 
the remainder of that and probably part of the next 
day ; and, while racking my brain to find something 
to set the rest to work on, Mr. Kimball approached, 
saying that he would like to have a " standing job," 
as he was an old man. I says, u Very well, Mr. Kim- 
ball : what would you prefer doing ? " — " Well," said 
he, " there are those pilasters : there are a great 
many of them, also the base-blocks. I can take a 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 237 

man to work with me, and get tliem all ready by the 
time the rest will get ready to put them up." All 
this was as clear as "mud" to me, whatever it 
might be to him. What a " pilaster " was, was a 
puzzler. I couldn't remember of ever hearing the 
word spoken : whether it was long or short, wide 
or narrow, thin or thick, I hadn't the slightest con- 
ception. Then the " base-blocks : " I knew that 
" base " meant doing some mean, wicked act. I also 
knew that partly rotten or shaky wood was called 
bad, unfit for use, but never heard it called " base." 

From his conversation I supposed that the " pilas- 
ters," " base-blocks," and " capitals " occupied an 
important place in the prosecution of the work; 
further than that I couldn't even guess. Getting 
out the "stuff" for the doors, I had a pretty clear 
conception of, although I failed to understand what 
was meant by " stiles," " rails," and " muntings." 
All I knew about it was, that, when all these things 
were put together, I supposed a door was the result. 

After I had assented to Mr. Kimball's proposition 
(whatever it meant) he says, " Let me see, how wide 
are the pilasters?" reaching for the plans, which 
I held with as much dignity as a " boss " should. I 
handed him the whole roll, not knowing enough 
about them to select the drawing needed. " Oh ! " 
said he, " they are six inches wide ; " continuing, 
" let us go down and ascertain their length." Now, 
I thought, I shall find out what a pilaster means, 
and where it goes ; keeping remarkably reticent, 
for fear of compromising the high estimation they 
entertained of my superior ability. There is a sort 



238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

of instinctive pride with all of us, to impress upon 
others our superior proficiency in whatever we are 
doing ; and this is a remarkable characteristic with 
this class of mechanics. When about commencing 
any new piece of work, and especially if it is com- 
plicated, they are prolific with suggestions as to the 
best way to do it ; often saying, " Some do it this 
way," telling about it, but " I prefer this way," 
describing it. This was remarkably so with Mr. 
Kimball ; and, by the time he got through telling 
how to do it two ways, one must be unusually stupid 
not to get hold of something to his advantage, es- 
pecially if he is seeking for light upon a mysterious 
subject, as this was to me. He seemed anxious to 
impress me with his superior knowledge and skill. I 
knew just enough to let him do all the talking ; and, 
as I didn't object to his suggestions, he seemed to 
feel flattered at my acquiescence to his way of doing 
things, when in real truth I knew positively nothing 
of what he was talking about. He evidently con- 
sidered me possessed of superior knowledge and skill 
in the profession ; and I had not the slightest disposi- 
tion to disabuse him of his misconception. He got 
two sticks, for what, I didn't know, and started aft. 
I allowed him to go ahead, following with the plans 
as a "boss" should; he got aft, and went down the 
after-hatch. It will be recollected that I didn't even 
know where the saloon was to be, but Mr. Kimball 
seemed to know all about it ; he obtained his knowl- 
edge from a plan of the deck, unnoticed by me. 

When we got below, he took another look at the 
plan of the cabin that was to be, and counted the 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 239 

staterooms as represented on it. Having ascertained 
by measuring how far forward it would come, he got 
the distance between decks with the two sticks re- 
ferred to, after nailing them together ; and asked me 
the height of the " capitals " and " base-blocks," 
expecting me to ascertain from the working plan. 
Here was another puzzler ; although I knew, from 
what I had heard him say, that they were somehow 
or other intimately associated with the " pilasters ; " 
which latter I supposed by his saying they were six 
inches wide, and by his getting the distance between 
decks, were to occupy a perpendicular position some- 
where in the work ; but, how or where, I hadn't 
the least conception. 

Before he made the request, I noticed the captain 
and some of the officers coming down the gangway. 
Pretending I wanted to speak to the captain, but 
really to get away and save myself the trouble of 
doing something that I couldn't have done to save 
the world, I left the plans, and went towards them. 
I hadn't gone a dozen steps, when, in looking back, I 
saw him overhauling the plans. That was all I 
wanted ; and I came to where he was looking over 
them, before he had ascertained the desired informa- 
tion. By this I got an inkling of what, up to this 
time, had been wrapped up in impenetrable mystery. 
By the plan, the capitals were eight and " base- 
blocks " ten inches in height, making in both eigh- 
teen inches; which, deducting from the height 
between decks, left the exact length of the " pilas- 
ters." I suggested to Mr. Kimball the importance 
of knowing about what there was to do, in the first 



240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

place, so that I could have all parts going on at once ; 
my object being more to find out the meaning of 
names used to designate the different parts of a door, 
so that I could talk to the men intelligently about 
getting out the stuff, than for any solicitude about 
how soon the work could be done. 

Mr. Kimball said, " Certainly : if one didn't see 
the last blow before he struck the first one, he would 
work to disadvantage throughout the whole job," 
little thinking that his " boss " could take neither 
the one nor the other. Suffice it to say that through 
his aid I got the dimension and number of pieces for 
the whole lot. 

Things began to look clearer as I had found out 
the meaning of terms that a few moments before 
were totally unintelligible. It would have been 
laughable to one in the secret, to see how wondrous 
prolific I had become all at once with my rule ; but, 
as I wasn't out of the woods yet, I had to watch 
myself carefully, not to upset the whole thing by 
making any blunders in speech or act. 

Mr. Kimball selecting a man to work with him, 
I set the others making benches and horses, and 
getting out stuff for the doors ; and by noon the next 
day I had the whole job fairly under way, busying 
myself in going from one to another to see that they 
were doing their work properly. 

When I saw a man doing something I didn't 
understand, I would say to him, " Why do it so ? " 
pretending I was dissatisfied, but really intending to 
find out his reasons for doing so and so, which he 
would give with all his possible eloquence. After 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 241 

finding out what I wanted, I would say, "Never 
mind : I guess that'll do." By this process I became 
proficient in a position forced upon me by sheer force 
of circumstances, and which I carried out to the 
satisfaction of all concerned. The first day of May 
she started up the coast with seven hundred passen- 
gers. I worked all the way up. We had a fine 
passage, stopping at Acapulco a few hours to replen- 
ish our coal ; and landed in San Francisco on the 20th 
of May, 1849. Thus ends another quite remarkable 
experience of my life, considering the untoward 
circumstances that attended me from the first day 
when I set out. 

To say I had no outside aid in navigating through 
the intricate channel I was forced into without so 
much as getting one set-back, would be arrogating to 
myself properties I did not possess; nor do I wish 
to be looked upon in that light. There were many 
other amusing and intensely interesting incidents, 
and ridiculous anecdotes, directly connected with 
the part I was compelled to play in the drama, which 
I might relate ; but, to carry out the object of the 
book, I need not give many, other than the more 
prominent ones, leaving the rest to appear in another 
book I'm writing, entitled " Odds and Ends," a con- 
tinuation of this autobiography in detached pieces, 
which will be filled to repletion with incidents of a 
less prominent character, but not a whit less inter- 
esting. 

I arrived at San Francisco on the 20th of May, 
and went immediately to the post-office, where I 
received a letter from my brother Thomas, in answer 

21 



242 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

to one I sent before leaving home, directing me how 
to find him. While waiting for my turn in the long 
line of men who had preceded me, I saw a little 
piece of paper tacked up on the side of the building, 
on which was written these words, " If D. C. Dens- 
more will call at a certain place (naming it, which I 
have forgotten), he will hear something to his advan- 
tage." Who it was, I couldn't divine ; but, on going 
to the place designated, found Isaac Chapman, my 
brother-in-law. He had a job of carpenter-work on 
a new house, which he expected to finish in about a 
week, after doing which he was going to the mines. 
This was most opportune for me, as he had a tent on 
Eincon Point, where he lodged and took his meals, 
with the exception of dinners, which he obtained at 
a saloon. As he was going to the mines soon, and it 
being rather early to go forthwith on account of the 
swollen condition of the rivers and streams, I con- 
cluded to wait for him. 

Failing to get a job with him, and anxious to make 
the most of my time, I tried all the ship, or rather 
boat yards, some half-dozen or so, for a job, every one 
of which had all the men they wanted. This was 
Saturday, the day after my arrival. They were 
building what were called water-boats, with a large 
tank in the hold, in which to bring fresh water from 
up the Sacramento River to supply the city. At that 
time there was a great scarcity of water for culinary 
purposes, to say nothing about a supply in case of 
fires. 

Ship-carpenters were getting twelve dollars per 
day ; and I didn't like the idea of laying still, if it 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 243 

was possible to get a job, if only for a week. I told 
my brother I should get work among some of them 
on Monday, although I had failed at every place 
where I had applied. He said it was hardly possible, 
as there were thousands who had been there months, 
waiting to get into the mines, whose funds had 
become exhausted ; and they had been trying all this 
time to get something to do. I knew the chances 
were against me ; but I sallied out early Monday morn- 
ing, and the third one I applied to was a Dutchman from. 
Baltimore. I had been refused by him on Saturday, 
but so many had been applying that he didn't recog- 
nize me. When I asked this time if he wanted any 
more help, he replied very gruffly, " No" I said I was 
used to work, and I was going to work whether he 
wanted me or not. He mumbled over something 
which I took to be, " If you do I won't pay you any 
thing." At any rate, I hallooed out as loud as I could 

yell, " I don't care a d n whether you do or not, 

but work I will." I borrowed a few tools from some 
of the chaps, and got to work about half-past nine, 
and kept at it until Thursday, before the old gruff 
Teuton condescended to speak to me. When he did 
speak, I for a while made believe I didn't hear him. 
Finally I said, " Did you speak ? " he says, " Yes, many 
times, but you didn't hear me." I said I was too 
busy to talk, and asked him to . call when I was less 
engaged. One would think this rather rough lan- 
guage to an employer; but when it is taken into 
account that he didrCt employ me, that I went to 
work on my own hook, not expecting full compensa- 
tion, if indeed any thing, then it doesn't seem so 



244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

much out of place. > I was bound to have some fun 
out of it, if nothing else ; and, besides, I had much 
rather work for nothing, than loiter round in such a 
place as San Francisco was then. 

The" old fellow saw by my work that I was more 
profitable than any one of his gang : hence his good 
feelings. When he paid us off Saturday, he came 
to me with a lot of money in a handkerchief, some 
of it loose, the rest in ten-dollar packages, saying r 
" You may count it, or take my word for it." I said, I 
didn't care, as long as there was some^ continuing, 
" Now I'm going to the mines." — " No, you hain't," 
he says : " you forced yourself in ; and you must work 
another week, and help get that boat in the water." 

After getting supper, I counted the money received 
from him ; and, sure enough, there was not only full 
wages, but the one-fourth of a clay I didn't work, mak- 
ing $72. As Isaac wasn't ready, I did work another 
week ; at the expiration of which he offered me 
twelve dollars per day until the 20th of December 
following, payable every week whether he had work, 
or not, — pretty good proof of his appreciation of 
my workmanship. 

I mention this incident simply to show that perse- 
verance under discouraging prospects sometimes, in 
fact often, proves most propitious. 

As my brother was expecting me, and I also wanted 
to try my hand at mining, I refused this most liberal 
offer of the Dutchman, and, in company with my 
brother-in-law, started for the mining district. 

It is not deemed necessary to give details about 
how we got to Sacramento. Suffice it to say, we took 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 245 

passage from the latter place on a stern-wheel steam- 
boat for Marysville, situated at the junction of the 
Uba and Feather Rivers. From here we had to foot 
it ninety miles to get where my brother was mining. 
This was too much for Mr. Chapman : so he stopped, 
hoping to get a chance to ride part of the way, as 
there were occasionally long Mexican trains of mules 
loaded with merchandise for some of the interior 
towns. After waiting a month, he hired a man to 
take him to Forster's Bar, within forty miles of where 
my brother was working his claim; from there he 
was obliged to walk. We arrived at Marysville 
early in the morning, and finding, as before stated, 
no conveyance except shanks' mare, there being some 
twenty miles to traverse over a flat prairie before 
reaching the foot of the mountain, and the weather 
being exceedingly hot, I waited until four, p.m., so 
that the sun would be less oppressive, and then started 
in company with a Mr. St. John, to cross this wood- 
less plateau, hoping to reach what was called the Blue 
Tent, some four miles beyond the prairie, before dark. 
I had bought a pair of new cowhide boots, being told 
such were easier to travel in than others. Also I 
purchased a pint of Medford rum to put into them 
occasionally, to keep my feet from blistering; but 
this was a mistake, as it tended to directly the oppo- 
site, at least it was so in my case ; and by the time 
we reached the Blue Tent, about eight, p.m., my feet 
were badly blistered. Laid by the next day, and the 
following made only five miles. After this we made 
better time ; but it was not until the fourth day that 
we finished the ninety miles. Found my brother 

21* 



246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

well and hearty, and one of ten who owned the best 
claim on the river, as everybody said. He gave me. 
one-half of his claim, on condition that I would help 
him work. The claim consisted of a certain territory 
below the falls. To make it available we would have 
to dig a canal, and turn the water into it. We could 
dig the canal, but couldn't turn the river into it 
until it had reached its lowest stage ; and this wouldn't 
occur until the last of August or first of the Septem- 
ber following. We worked all summer on the canal, 
and didn't finish it until the middle of August ; at 
which time we commenced on the dam. Owing to 
unforseen obstacles, we did not get the dam finished 
until the fourteenth of September, and that left us 
but thirteen days to work, for, by a decision of the 
alcalde, we were obliged to leave it on the twenty- 
eighth of September. The facts were, we had got 
into a difficulty with a company above us, the latter 
claiming that we had no right to back the water up 
so as to prevent them working their claim ; and, to 
end the dispute, both parties agreed to leave it to 
this functionary to decide the difficulty between us ; 
and although there wasn't a particle of doubt as to 
our priority, yet, as our neighbors were a hard set of 
customers, the alcalde thought best to decide as 
above. Without going into all the details as to how 
we surmounted the formidable obstacles we had to 
overcome in constructing the dam where the current 
was running ten miles per hour and ten feet deep, 
will merely say that we did accomplish the herculean 
task, as before stated, and took out in the thirteen 
days allowed us over ten thousand dollars; and I 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 247 

haven't the least doubt but that in a month more we 
could have accumulated ten times that amount ; for 
we had barely got to work before we had to leave. 

The time had come when we must decide whether 
to remain in the mountains all winter, or go to the 
city ; for, in three or four weeks at most, the rainy 
season would be upon us, when we couldn't get out 
if we wanted to. If we concluded to stay we had 
no time to lose in making our preparations, as we 
were obliged to get our supplies from the city before 
the rains set in. 

After taking every thing into account, concluded 
to start on our way home on the morrow. The next 
day disposed of all our mining apparatus to our 
neighbors who intended remaining through the win- 
ter, and that night, at two, a.m., started on our way 
towards San Francisco. We found some fifteen or 
twenty besides our gang going out, and agreed to 
keep together for mutual protection, all being heavily 
armed with revolvers and rifles, and every one a 
dead shot but myself. I suppose I might manage to 
hit a large tree if not over a rod from me ; but my 
ability to hit a man his length off was something I 
would not want to bet upon. 

Leaving out the incidents that happened on our 
way out (and there were many amusing ones), I will 
say that after a four days' march we arrived at Marys- 
ville, where we took passage in a steamer to Sacra- 
mento, from whence took another steamer for San 
Francisco, where we arrived in due time. 

The day succeeding our arrival, we found a bark 
to start for Panama in a few days, upon which we 



248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

engaged a passage to the latter place ; or if any of us 
chose to land at Realejo, and take the overland route 
through Central America, we could do so. After a 
passage of near three weeks, some thirty of the pas- 
sengers, including Thomas and self, were landed at 
Realejo. 

All hands bought mules, and with a guide started, 
the second day after disembarking, across the coun- 
try towards Nicaragua, situated at the head of a lake 
by that name, from where we could take boats down 
the lake and San Juan River to the Atlantic coast. 

We were some fifteen days on the route before we 
entered the city. Remaining here a couple of weeks, 
we started down the lake in what the natives call a 
bungo, a large, flat-bottomed boat, employed to carry 
mahogany to San Juan del Sud, situated at the foot 
of the San Juan River. Leaving out all incidents 
connected with the passage, we landed at the outlet 
of the river the tenth day after leaving Nicaragua. 
Finding no conveyance to the States, and it being 
uncertain how long we should have to remain there, 
to save expense a few of us hired a shanty, and went 
to housekeeping. It being the rainy season, we had 
to use a great deal of caution against contracting the 
intermittent fever, so prevalent there at that season 
of the year. We hadn't occupied our quarters but 
about a week when the English steamship " Tay," a 
Carthaginian packet from London, came steaming 
into the harbor to replenish her coal. On board 
of her we engaged a passage to Chagres, where she 
was bound. After getting her supply of coal, steamed 
out to sea, and the third day anchored at Chagres. 



YOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 249 

The same day we bought tickets for New York, on 
the steamship " Kingston," which sailed for Kings- 
ton, Jamaica, where the ship was to replenish her 
coal, and where we arrived the third day after leav- 
ing Chagres. Here we remained one day and night, 
when we got under way, and started on our home- 
ward stretch; and, after a rough passage of twelve 
days from Kingston, hauled into the dock in New 
York the 18th of December, 1849, about nine months 
after I left home. 

I was sick all the way from Kingston with some- 
thing, I knew not what to call it. It was the result 
of exposures on the way from Nicaragua to Chagres 
in the rainy season, as we were obliged to lay down 
in the open air in our blankets all the way, with the 
exception of a few clays at San Juan. I was out of 
my head part of the time ; and when we arrived in 
New York I could hardly stand. We landed early 
in the morning, and, as I had not eaten much of any 
thing since leaving the West Indies, I thought I 
would get a hot oyster-stew, although I had no appe- 
tite for it. I thought, if I could get i*t down, it would 
warm me up, as I was freezing to death all the time. 
I took a few spoonfuls, and left it. And, although it 
was early morning, I got a ticket on a Fall River 
boat, and got into my berth more dead than alive, 
and remained there until called upon to take the cars 
at Fall River for Boston, where I arrived about six, 
A.M. I was so weak and exhausted that I couldn't 
walk without staggering. I wanted to go to the 
Portland boat. I couldn't ride in a carriage, and 
started off on foot ; and, though I knew the way, the 



250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

farther I went, the less natural things looked. I reeled 
from one side of the walk to the other, often hearing 
the remark, " There goes a drunken cuss thus early." 
I was too sick to notice them ; and when near the 
East Boston ferry I sat down on some cedar timber 
to rest. I had but just got down, when a man walk- 
ing very rapidly, as I thought, to catch the boat, 
noticing me looking so sick, stopped, and asked me if 
I wanted help. I told him I did not, that I had 
plenty of time, and should be in season for the boat. 
"What boat?" he asked. I told him; and he said, 
" You are a long way from that wharf. Sha'n't I get 
a carriage? You look very feeble." I told him I 
couldn't ride in a carriage. He then insisted upon 
helping me to the boat himself, assisted me up, and 
then, taking my blankets, I took his arm ; and after a 
long while, for so it seemed to me, we got to the 
landing. It being low water, the wide gangway 
stage on which they were taking in freight pitched 
at an angle of twenty-five degrees ; but, being very 
wide, I refused his offer to assist me on board, as I 
thought he was* in a hurry. Thanking him for his 
kindness, I started down the gangway ; but being so 
weak, and by this time completely exhausted, I reeled 
from side to side ; and, although I had not over twenty 
feet to go, I came near in one of my sideway staggers 
going into the dock. After I got on deck, I looked 
back, and there the Good Samaritan was looking at 
me, it seemed with bated breath, at the narrow 
chance I had run of getting into the dock. We 
waved adieus to each other when he started up the 
wharf. 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 251 

While making the dangerous passage from the 
wharf to the boat, I heard one say, "Look out, old 
fellow, or you'll get cooled off in the ice-water," 
intimating that he thought I was drunk. Another 
remarked, " There goes a drunken fool." I thought, 
if they knew how miserable I felt, they would be 
more charitable. I purchased my ticket, found my 
berth, and tumbled into it " all standing," not being 
.able to take even my hat or boots off. Seeing the 
chambermaid passing, I called her, stating that. I was 
very sick and weak, and asked her to get me a little 
toast and a cup of strong tea, which she soon brought. 
After drinking the tea, and eating part of the toast, 
I felt better, and was soon fast asleep. I have been 
thus particular in detailing this uninteresting episode, 
that I may pay a tribute of gratitude to that good, 
generous, large-souled man, who verified the old 
adage, that " a friend in need is a friend indeed." 

The next morning, long before daylight, the boat 
was at her wharf in Portland; and, it being Sunday, I 
was obliged to stop at a hotel until the next morning 
at six, A.M., when a train would start for Waterville, 
where I had a brother who kept a hotel. It com- 
menced snowing at the time we started ; and before 
eight we were hard and fast in a snow-drift in one of 
the deep cuts. All hands belonging to the train were 
obliged to shovel snow for an hour before the engine 
could go along. I had felt cold all the morning, 
although I was well bundled up ; and after the train 
stopped I fell asleep. I woke shaking all over ; I 
thought I should freeze to death. I fairly shook the 
car ; and do what I might, or try as hard as I could 



252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. • 

not to shake, I kept on. I thought when I awoke, 
that the stopping of the train checked the draught 
of the stove, and that my chilly feeling proceeded 
from the decline of the fire. The passengers got 
alarmed at my shaking ; and, upon my telling 
them I was freezing to death, the women took off 
their shawls, and enveloped me in them. But all 
to no use; shake I did, in spite of all efforts to 
the contrary. There being a little fire in the stove, 
and room enough between it and the side of the car 
to squeeze in between, some of the anxious ones 
advised me to get in there, and see if I couldn't get 
warm. I did so, but with no diminution of the awful 
shaking. By this time all hands had become excited 
to the highest pitch, as they thought I was going to 
die in the cars ; and I didn't know myself but their 
fears would be realized. I remember thinking, that 
dying itself was not so very bad, but that, as I had 
got so near home, I would rather get there before the 
event took place. While everybody was speculating 
as to what was best to do for me, an old sailor came 
along, and, after listening to their fears, relieved them 
and me by saying, "He's got the fever-and-ager ; and 
he won't die unless he gets too lazy to shake." The 
moment he spoke thus all felt relieved ; and I won- 
dered why I hadn't thought the like before, for I had 
seen hundreds suffering with that loathsome disease. 
After shaking a couple of hours, the chill ceased 
altogether, when a burning fever set in, and I felt 
burning up with a high fever ; the sweat poured in 
streams down my body and limbs. The fever affecting 
my head made me as crazy as a lunatic ; and, although 



VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA. 253 

I knew what I said, yet I couldn't help talking over 
all sorts of stuff, sometimes about digging gold, then 
reefing topsails, &c. The kind-hearted conductor, as 
well as all the rest, thought I was crazy. He was 
very kind, and seemed to take a great interest in me. 
The fever not abating when we got as far as Lewis- 
ton, he stopped the train long enough to take me to 
a hotel kept by a friend of his. He told me I would 
be well cared for ; and, after charging the proprietor 
to look out for me until he came back, left. Some- 
how or other I believed or thought that this man was 
the best friend I ever had; and amid my wildest 
mutterings I watched him with the greatest interest, 
and whatever he said was to me law and gospel. 
For instance, when he was leaving I thought I heard 
him tell me not to leave the room, though he was 
merely telling me not to leave the house until his 
return. They got a fire in one of the front chambers, 
and when warm enough came for me, saying they had 
a nice, warm room ready, and told me they would 
help me up ; but I wouldn't budge an inch. I said I 
was told not to leave that room (the bar-room), and 
I wouldn't. Failing to get me up stairs, they made 
a bed for me on a wide bench, where I slept by fits 
and starts until the next morning. I was burning up 
with fever all night. I threw off all the clothes they 
would allow me to, but it seemed as if I was being 
immolated by fire. The next morning, while the 
folks were at breakfast, and when the clerk had left 
the office for a moment, I stripped off all clothing 
but my shirt, and went out into the hall which was 
covered with snow, sat down on the stairs, and eom- 
22 



254 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

menced rubbing myself all over with snow. Oh, how 
cool and refreshing that snow-bath felt ! One of the 
servants having occasion to come into the hall for 
something, seeing me in such a plight, ran into the 
dining-room, saying, " That crazy man is rubbing 
snow all over his naked body." This brought every- 
body out. They tried by coaxing to get me into the 
room again. Failing in that, they undertook to 
coerce me. This I objected to most decidedly, rub- 
bing snow on my body all the while, and occasionally 
eating it. Finally the proprietor's wife came along, 
and said a few words in which she expressed so much 
sympathy, that I yielded instantly to her persuasions. 
She remained with me some time, and asked me if I 
wanted something to eat. I said, " Yes ; some por- 
ridge, if you'll make it." When it was brought in, 
I couldn't taste it. About noon that day, the con- 
ductor called to see how I was getting along, and 
seemed displeased that I hadn't a better room. After 
learning the cause, he asked me why I didn't take 
another room. I told him my reason; when he 
laughed, and said he didn't mean that, and escorted 
me to the room they had failed to get me. to enter. 

The conductor found out, somehow or other before 
he left me at Lewiston, that I had a brother who 
run a hotel at Waterville, and hunted him up, 
and told him of my indisposition. Another brother 
(George), happening to be there on a visit, came 
to me with him, and accompanied me to Waterville, 
whence, after a couple of days, I went to my home, 
arriving there the twenty-seventh day of December, 
having been absent a little over nine months. 






VOYAGE TO CALIFOBNIA. 255 

Thus ends another epoch in my history ; in which 
I had obtained some valuable experiences, which, 
connected with a fair pecuniary recompense for my 
time, made the voyage, as a whole, a good success. 
In about a week after my arrival home, aided by 
Dr. Bricket and good nursing, I completely recovered 
from my disability ; and by March was ready to enter 
again the arena of business, and compete for the 
prize of fortune's favor. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SHIP-BUILDING AT ROCKLAND, ME. — ITS RESULTS — 
INVESTIG ATING SPIRITUALISM — HOW AND WHY I 
BECAME INTERESTED IN ITS FACTS — FIRST INTI- 
MATION OF BEING MYSELF A MEDIUM — AUTO- 
GRAPHIC WRITING — TESTS, ETC. 

The following May, I moved with my family to 
Rockland, where I engaged in ship-building, in which 
I was successful for three or four years ; but in 1855 
a financial crash came all over the country, swamping 
thousands in irretrievable ruin. Ships that for three 
or four years, especially the clipper class, readily 
brought fabulous prices, now became a drug in the 
market. In fact, all kinds of shipping became 
almost worthless. 

At this time I was building a ship of eight hun- 
dred tons, every timber-head of which had been, 
taken up by purchasers before I struck a blow. She 
was to be owned principally by her prospective cap- 
tain and a Boston firm, and some half a dozen small 
owners in Rockland. By a strange fatuity, the cap- 
tain died in Trieste of yellow fever ; the Boston 
firm failed about the same time ; and this was fol- 
lowed by the small owners annulling their contracts : 
consequently the ship was left on my hands. 

2.56 



SHIPBUILDING AT ROCKLAND, ME. 257 

She was so far along I could do nothing but go on 
and finish her, and abide the consequences. She 
was of the clipper class, and nobody wanted to invest 
their money in her. She was finally sold for seven- 
teen thousand dollars less than her actual cost, which 
swamped me completely ; and from that failure I 
never fully recovered. 

An interesting experience connected with my 
pecuniary affairs, which gave me more real pleasure 
than almost any event of my life, because it showed 
how I stood in the estimation of the inhabitants of 
Rockland, must have notice here. I question 
whether, in the history of any other strictly religious 
community (for everybody there belonged to some of 
the religious denominations), such a universal exhibi- 
tion of good feeling and downright sympathy was 
ever accorded to a notorious infidel ; for such I was 
called. I was known to every family in town ; if 
not personally, at least by reputation. 

The facts of the case were, that I owned a house, 
and, after purchasing it, made considerable improve- 
ments upon the property. W hen the insurance which 
was on the property when it came into my possession 
had run out, I intended to increase the policy a 
thousand dollars. The above policy expired on the 
28th of December, on which day I went down town 
to get it renewed ; but Mr. Cochran, the agent, being 
absent, and I suffering myself with a bad cold, I 
thought one day would not make much difference, 
and put it off, thinking I would attend to it on the 
morrow. I had the cellar full of vegetables, pork, 
beef, cider, apples, &c, for a winter supply. 

22* 



258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

That night about two o'clock, the house took fire, 
and burned down, with the stable and woodshed, 
each of which was full of hay or wood; and not a 
thing was saved, except one old bureau. The fire 
had such headway on before we discovered it, that 
we had barely time to get the children out before the 
house was one mass of flames from garret to cellar ; 
we did not save an article of clothing, with the ex- 
ception of what we had on. 

As before stated, I was suffering with a severe 
cold; and, after tea was over, it was thought best for 
me to take a regular sweat. It was extremely cold 
weather; and, w6 having no fire in any other part 
of the house except the kitchen, I concluded to go 
through the operation there on a large lounge. That 
she might watch and attend me through the night, my 
wife put a mattress on the floor ; and, after I had got 
under way in sweating, she with the baby lay down 
on the mattress without disrobing. Some time in the 
night, in the vicinity of two o'clock, I awoke with a 
suffocating sensation. I had great difficulty in get- 
ting my breath. After a while I perceived the room 
was densely filled with smoke, and discovered a dim 
light through the smoke. The light was from a 
lamp left burning on a table on the opposite side of 
the room from where I was lying. At the same 
moment, I saw, issuing from a cupboard on the right 
side of the chimney, a blaze of fire. In an instant I 
comprehended the situation, but I was so overcome 
with the suffocating smoke that I could not speak ; I 
knew enough, however, to awake my wife, who com- 
prehended the state of affairs on waking, and taking 



HOUSE BURNED. 259 

the baby in her arms passed through the dining-room 
to the front door. I took the other child, who was 
sleeping in another room, and was soon outside. As 
soon as my lungs were sufficiently clear to let me 
sing out " Fire" I did so. By this time the fire-fiend 
had got into the dining-room ; and our opening the 
door to go out made a draught through the house, 
which expedited the work of the devouring monster. 
After a few moments we had our neighbors around 
us ; and in less than a half-hour the whole town was 
there. There was one little hand-engine in town; 
but there having been a long time of dry, cold 
weather, the wells were insufficient to furnish a sup- 
ply of water; and, to crown all, it was dead loiv tide. 
They tried the engine ; but it soon gave out through 
some defect, and would have been useless if water 
had been ever so abundant. The weather, which 
had been extremely cold for a few days, at midnight 
moderated; and snow commenced falling rapidly. 
As it was useless to try to save my property, the 
best thing that could be done was to save the adja- 
cent buildings, which at one time was thought impos- 
sible ; the thing that did save them was the throwing 
on snow by thousands of willing hands. Not another 
building took fire ; and by daylight there remained 
not a vestige of what had cost me much hard labor 
to obtain. 

But the best part is to come. By special invitation 
we, that is, my family and self, took up our quarters 
at Capt. William Pendleton's for the time being, or 
until I could find a house to move into. While par- 
taking breakfast with the captain and his beautiful 



260 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

family, and when nearly through with our morning 
meal, a Mr. Ingraham, a near neighbor of mine, who 
carried on the blacksmith business, and with whom I 
had an unsettled account, came into the dining-room, 
and deposited a package on the table, saying, " That is 
for you, captain," meaning me. At first I thought it 
was his bills for work : he knew I had a little money ; 
and I thought he meant to be on hand, and get his 
pay before it was all gone. I now remember think- 
ing then how hard-hearted he must be to press his 
suit while my property was still burning ; for by the 
time I had finished my breakfast I had made myself 
believe he had made a call for money. I dreaded to 
look at his package, and took no notice of it, because 
I didn't want to. I was about leaving the table, when 
Capt. Pendleton drew my attention to the dreaded 
bundle. " Oh, yes ! " said I, at the same time taking 
it up. Upon taking off the wrapper, what was my 
surprise, to find, instead of dunning bills, a large pack- 
age of bank-bills, of all denominations, from one to 
fifty dollars, and a note reading thus : " A small token 
of the high appreciation of a few of your numerous 
friends, who sympathize with you in your recent great 
loss." Upon counting it I found $585. All this was 
contributed after the premises w : ere burned to the 
ground, and before eight o'clock, A.M. This Mr. Ingra- 
ham, of whom I had such ungenerous thoughts, was 
the very one who started the subscription. Not a 
name accompanied the donation, so that I never knew 
how much any one contributed. Nor was this all. 
They kept the thing going ; and every day or two I 
would get a package of money, so that in less than 
four days I had received over $900. 



KINDNESS OF FRIENDS. 261 

Everybody wanted to do something ; and those that 
had no money would send wearing apparel for my 
family and self; so that, besides the money, we had a 
larger and better wardrobe than before the fire. At 
South Thomaston where I had done business for 
about a year, some four miles from Rockland, they 
got up a subscription of some two hundred and odd 
dollars, and sent it to me the next day after the fire. 
A little village on the outskirts of Rockland, where 
I was but little acquainted and the people poor, made 
up a sum of thirteen dollars, and sent it to me : this 
latter sum, considering the poverty of the place, and 
my limited acquaintance with its inhabitants, seemed 
to me the most hearty manifestation of good feelings 
among all the givers. Those who were so poor that 
they could contribute nothing qj.se offered to con- 
tribute work toward putting me up another house. 
Never having had any experience in such matters 
before, and feeling totally unworthy of such univer- 
sal kindness, I was quite incapable of doing aught but 
show my gratitude by " expressive silence." I found 
that no distinct class constituted my friends: all, 
everybody, was my friend. 

A few days subsequent, being down town, I hap- 
pened into the Hon. Kendall Kimball's store, when 
in speaking of the conflagration he said playfully, " If 
you wasn't such a confounded infidel, you would have 
some friends in your calamity." This man, as I sub- 
sequently learned, put in one hundred dollars before 
the fire had finished its work. Does it often occur 
that what we deem faults of omission prove to be 
great blessings ? If I had effected the insurance I 



262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

would never have known that there was no limit to 
my personal sympathizers and friends, the knowledge 
of which made me stronger and better, and gave me 
unbounded confidence in prosecuting my business 
affairs subsequently, because I knew that I had the 
entire confidence of everybody around me, rich and 
poor, and that my credit was unlimited ; all of which 
gave me facilities for competing successfully in the 
arduous struggles of life, rarely if ever vouchsafed to 
any one having such limited capital as mine. 

In the spring of 1852 I became interested in mod- 
ern Spiritualism. It had been the theme of conver- 
sation all over the country for some three or four 
years ; and, although I had often heard voices as 
heretofore stated, yet I hadn't the remotest idea 
that they emanated from disembodied spirits, as was 
being alleged by those who had given Spiritualism 
scrutinizing attention. I was often solicited by 
friends to investigate the mystery, but had not a 
moment to spare outside of my business; and then, 
again, I thought that after a while it would die out 
entirely, and cease to be even a " nine-days' wonder." 

One morning Mr. John Jameson came to me with 
a note from a Mr. John Bird, a young married man 
who lived on the outskirts of the city, requesting Mr. 
Jameson to invite three or four friends, naming whom 
he preferred, to call at his house after dark on that 
day, and see what they could make out of some mani- 
festations taking place in the presence of himself 
and wife. Although Mr. Bird was a strict church- 
member, and his father a deacon and quite wealthy, 
yet he selected four noted infidels to investigate the 



INVESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM. 263 

mystery. This Mr. Bird, jun., married his wife in Wor- 
cester, Mass., from where he had just returned from a 
visit to his wife's father, who was a confirmed Spirit- 
ualist. John and wife were, while making this visit, 
urged to attend numerous circles with the old man, 
whom they both thought demented : out of defer- 
ence to his childish fancies, as they called his enthu- 
siasm, they did not object, and yet took no other 
interest in the affair than the pleasure of contributing 
to the old man's happiness. 

After partaking tea one evening, a few days after 
they arrived home, they were speaking of the old 
gentleman and his insane delusion, as they termed it, 
when John said to his wife, " Lizzie, let us get the 
table out, and see if it won't tip for us." 

Suiting the action to the word, they sat down to 
it; and, behold, it began to rock about as if instilled 
with an active existence ! Having attended so many 
seances with their father, they understood the 
" modus-operandi " of asking questions, &c. They 
experimented, and found that the table would re- 
spond intelligently to their mental questions. This 
established the fact that one or both of them were 
mediums. Fearing to remain in their own house 
with " ghosts " around, they spent the night with old 
Mr. Bird, a few rods distant. The next day Mr. 
Bird sent the note to Mr. Jameson above referred to. 
In the course of the day Mr. Jameson got the promise 
of the invited ones to attend a sitting at Mr. Bird's 
house. Their names were, John Jameson, Capt. 
George Brewster, Capt. Smith, and myself; the three 
latter old " sea-dogs," and all of us very sceptical, espe- 



264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

cially in relation to matters of a religious or spiritual 
nature. The distance from our homes was about three 
and a half miles, and it was in April ; and, as side- 
walks extended but a short distance out of town, the 
walking was very muddy and disagreeable. 

On our way, we speculated upon what we should 
see and hear, concluding at last that it was all " bosh 
and nonsense." At any rate, we agreed among our- 
selves, before we got there, that, if the table tipped 
at all, it should tip toivards us. It was agreed that 
we would sit on the side directly opposite Mr. and 
Mrs. Bird. We never had attended a stance ; but 
we got it from Madam Rumor, that the table always 
tipped towards the medium ; and this fact was to our 
bigoted minds remarkably suspicious. Our reasons 
were, that as the law of physics said, and no intel- 
ligent man dared dispute, it " takes weight to move 
weight," and according to the most intelligent in- 
vestigators a thousand spirits didn't weigh an ounce 
avoirdupois; and consequently the medium must 
press downward if the table tipped over toward the 
medium at all, whether conscious of pressing or 
not. This was a knock-down argument with us; 
and, as before stated, no one disputed the reasoning. 
On the road, if I saw any one ahead that I thought 
would know me, I turned out, and went alongside 
of the fence, as if judging that I could get along 
easier there, but really to avoid being known ; .for I 
felt ashamed of what we mutually called a wild- 
goose-chase, and thought everybody whom we met 
knew what we were up to. 

Although we were debarred suspicion that ma- 



INVESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM, 265 

chinery would be used, by both the fact that Mr. 
Bird was so frightened he didn't dare to sleep in his 
own house, and that he was above any attempt to 
practise deception, yet to show our remarkable 
Yankee skill in detecting fraud, and to acquire a 
reputation for being keen to detect stupidity in 
others, we looked under the table, and pushed it over 
the floor, as if we expected to find cords attached to 
it in some way, though each one of us knew there 
was no such thing, and that we were only showing 
off remarkable (?) detective powers. 

After satisfying ourselves, the table was placed in 
the middle of the floor ; and, all things being ready, 
John took his seat on one side, and, as per agreement, 
we four sat down on the opposite side. John put 
his hands on the table : we did the same. The table 
didn't budge an inch. Then Mr. Bird says to his 
wife, who was fixing up the room, " Lizzie, come and 
sit down." She put one hand lightly on the table ; 
and John put the question, " Are there any spirits 
here?" Instantly the table commenced to rise 
slowly on our side, we using our united efforts to 
keep it down. The leaf on our side cracked and 
snapped as though it was coming off; and, for fear it 
would break under our pressure, we " let up " a little, 
though still bearing down all we thought the table 
would bear. It didn't seem to notice our opposing 
force, but rose up from the floor, moved up and down 
easily three times without touching the floor, and 
then let itself down as gently as we could if trying 
to see how lightly we could let it down. When the 
table began to rise with our determination not to 

23 



266 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

allow it to do so, my hair went up with it ; for I saw 
in an instant, that all my vaunted philosophy and 
pretended knowledge of the law of physics was 
knocked higher than a kite. I saw that here was 
actual power " not dreamed of in my philosophy." 

I was a medium myself: yet it was some two or 
three years after this seance before I was fully satis- 
fied of the fact ; and I doubt whether, if I had to 
depend upon others besides myself for tests, I should 
have ever given it sufficient attention to prove its 
reality. 

But to return to the stance. After the table had 
answered several questions put by Mr. Bird, he told 
us we could ask such questions mentally as could be 
answered by yes or no ; yet that one person only 
should ask at a time. I was requested to try first. 
I did so ; and, without going into details, will say 
that I asked the table all sorts of mental questions 
pertaining to things that transpired both in the long 
ago and in recent days ; to all of which the table, or 
something else, knew how to and did manifest correct 
answer. All the rest did the same. I noticed that 
old Capt. Brewster, who sat next to me, after getting 
through with his questions, looked very sober ; and 
I said to him, " What do you think of it, Capt. 
George ? " He responded, in his rough way, " By 
G — d, I don't know what to think of it." He had 
lost his wife ; and had been asking questions, and 
getting as intelligent and appropriate responses as 
though she had been personally present. After occu- 
pying an hour or so with tipping the table, we tried 
other experiments: for instance, something would 



INVESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM. 267 

hold the table down to the floor so that the strongest 
man could not raise it more than an inch or two. 
It seemed as though one was applying his strength 
to stretch or pull out a strong thick piece of India- 
rubber ; and, when requested to do so, the table would 
become so light all at once, that all four of us sitting 
on its top, with the leaves down, couldn't keep it on 
the floor. Thus we experimented a long while, and 
got home about midnight, well pleased and much 
astonished with our wild-goose chase. 

After getting to my home, I went into the dining- 
room, where was a lamp burning on a large dining- 
table on which were all the plates, pitchers, knives 
and forks, &c. I placed my fingers lightly on one 
end ; and to my astonishment the farther end began 
to rise gradually, until the dishes began to slide 
towards me, when I said aloud, as though some one 
or more were lifting the farther end, " Oh, don't let 
the things slide off the table ! " when instantly it 
commenced to lower a little. After a minute or so 
the table came down as quiet and easy as if some 
one was trying to see how lightly it could be done. 
After this manifestation, I went out into the stable 
in the dark, and upstairs on the hay, where it was 
totally dark, and waited some time to see a spirit, as 
I was told that they could be seen in the dark. 
After waiting a half-hour or so, I came down, and 
got ready for bed. Thus ended my first night with 
the spirits ; and thus began a work that has engaged 
my close attention since, in many parts of the world, 
and which has caused me more real happiness and 
supreme felicity than all else combined, because it 



268 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

proved to me, without a shadow of a shade of doubt, 
the immortality of man ; proved that death was only 
a change of residences ; that in this life we were 
only going thDugh a gestational process, not dissimi- 
lar to the embryotic growth of the infant, after which 
the child is born into the actualities of this mundane 
existence : so at death Ave shall be born into the 
actualities of the life beyond, with all our faculties, 
dispositions, and peculiarities, loves, likes, and their 
opposites, unimpaired; in fact, greatly intensified. 
To sum it all up, it proved, as Dr. Franklin said in 
a letter to a friend who was deploring the loss of a 
beloved sister, among other things in condolence, 
that " toe are not really born until we die." 

The above seance also brought possible explana- 
tion of what I had all my life considered a mystery ; 
viz., who gave me audible instructions what to do 
in trying emergencies, and told how to proceed to 
get out of difficult dilemmas. I now began to see 
that this might proceed from attendent guides who 
exercised a watchful care over my career from my 
earliest infancy. But this remained to be proved. 
Being naturally a sceptic to every thing relating to the 
mysterious and marvellous, it took a vast amount of 
evidence to convince me of its reality. Still this 
first seance took the starch out of all my precon- 
ceived notions, and pompous arrogance of knowledge 
in matters I knew nothing about, relating to the 
spiritual part of man ; and it opened up a vast unex- 
plored territory, the nearest confines of which I had 
not as yet seen, nor believed to exist except in the 
fertile imagination of the superstitious enthusiast. 



INVESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM. 269 

The possibilities of what might be concealed at a 
longer or shorter distance from where I stood ex- 
cited such a powerful desire in my mind, to know 
more of this to me greatest wonder of the nineteenth 
century, that it enlisted all my powers of observation 
and research, to find out for myself this mystery of 
mysteries. I reasoned in this wise : " If this is worth 
any thing, it is worth all things ; " and where there 
seemed to be, or even might be, such a mine of wealth 
only a few feet and possibly but a few inches below 
the black soil of superstition and ignorance, I 
thought that it was worth digging for. 

From that time, I used all the means in my power 
to search out and ascertain the one great fundamen-. 
tal fact ; viz., whether our friends that had preceded 
us to that " bourn from which " it is said " no trav- 
eller ever returned," did really come back and tell 
us of the world beyond. 

I soon found that I was not only a medium for 
tipping the table, but also for writing ; that is, my 
hand, in spite of all exertions to the contrary, would 
twitch and move about nervously when I sat at a 
table, either alone, or in company with others. 
Sometimes these manifestations would be very bois- 
terous, and, it being out of my power to control 
them, made it very annoying to me. At first I pre- 
tended that I was doing it myself, that I was only 
mimicking others who pretended to be mediums, was 
trying to prove that anybody could do the same ; 
thus bringing obloquy and disgrace upon all the 
pretended mediums, by reflecting upon their honesty. 
But I was brought up with a " round-turn double- 

23* 



270 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

bitted," as sailors say, one morning some two years 
subsequent to my first attendance at a circle. It 
came about in this way. A Mr. and Mrs. Danforth 
being on a lecturing tour, and giving private mani- 
festations in our place, by invitation took up their 
abode with us. One Sunday morning, after all had 
left the breakfast-table excepting Mrs. Danforth and 
myself, we sitting on opposite sides, the conversation, 
which had been running upon Spiritualism, was con- 
tinued by us ; I all the time denouncing it as arrant 
humbug, and imposition upon the credulity of the 
weak-minded. About this time, feeling my arm in- 
fluenced powerfully, and wishing to conceal the real 
cause of "the manifestation, I said to Mrs. Danforth, 
" See my hand thrash about : don't you see that I'm 
a medium? " Up to this time, whenever my arm got 
cutting up pranks, I could stop it by pressing my 
elbow against my side. On this occasion, however, 
my hand and arm thrashed around terribly. I tried 
to stop it in the usual way ; but I couldn't get my 
elbow to my side, so that, instead of stopping it as 
heretofore, it increased in violence. Finding I 
couldn't stop it, I said to Mrs. Danforth, " I guess 

the d- l's here." She quietly remarked, " I think 

you'll soon find that he is." In a moment I was 
fully entranced by a powerful spirit, who assumed 
the appearance and gestures, through my organism, of 
an Indian. I jumped to my feet with my eyes 
closed, and commenced jabbering in some unknown 
language, gesticulating as though fighting. I would 
advance, seemingly against great odds; then fall 
back as if retreating ; all the time gesticulating and 



IWESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM, 271 

seemingly talking to some unseen people. This was 
kept up near an hour, when all at once I felt some- 
thing pierce me through the region of the heart ; and 
I fell my whole length backwards with such force 
that the whole house jarred. It was thought that I 
had broken a blood-vessel, and had actually died ; 
every appearance of my face indicating death. My 
lips turned purple, my face assumed an ashen hue, 
my nostrils drew together precisely as though death 
had taken place. I lay there a minute or so, when 
the influence left as suddenly as it came ; and I 
opened my eyes, and found Mary, my second daughter, 
leaning over me crying, and her tears streaming on 
my face. When I came to myself, I found the 
house full of neighbors, attracted by the savage yells 
of the Indian. All seemed struck with awe at the 
freaks I cut up, some attributing it to one thing, 
some another ; but none, with the exception of our 
visitors Mr. and Mrs. Danforth, to the real cause. 
This was the first time I was fully controlled as far 
as I knew ; although, as the reader is already aware, 
I had been under some kind of influence many times 
in my previous life, without knowing it. Not one 
who witnessed it doubted or questioned that it was 
some outside power, any more than I did ; but what 
power, or whence it emanated, was the question. 
Everybody had heard of such things; but few had 
ever witnessed any such before, and had treated 
them as the wild vagaries of a madman. Accounts 
of this tussle with the Indian, or rather of the tussle 
of the Indian to control me, spread like wildfire ; 
and I, being well known, was bothered to death by 



272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the inquisitive to know more of this matter. From 
this time I began to develop very fast in mechanical 
writing. At first, and for a long time, nothing came 
but hieroglyphics perfectly unintelligible to any 
one ; but, after nearly a year of constant practice, 
long communications would come, treating upon all 
conceivable subjects, but all of high moral quality. 
Most of the writing was signed by two or three men 
who figured high in the political world, holding the 
highest public positions in the gift of a great nation. 
As I had noticed that mediums, with hardly an excep- 
tion, received communications from some great per- 
sonages of the past, and not feeling worthy myself of 
such high considerations, and reasoning from analogy 
that " like generally attracts its like," and knowing 
that I possessed not one quality that could attract 
such men to me, although I had not a doubt but that 
it was somebody out of the material form, I doubted 
its being whom it purported to be. One of these 
mysterious personages, and by whom most of the 
communications . were signed, was James Madison. 
Failing to ascertain to a certainty that it was he, I 
requested the spirit, if it was really the one it 
claimed to be, not to sign his full name in the future, 
but merely James. After this request, only James 
was ever affixed to any communication purporting 
to be by him. I was very anxious to find out the 
real truth ; but not until the succeeding spring did I 
become fully convinced that James Madison was 
really one of the operators through me, although the 
communicator had said so through my hand thou- 
sands of times. 



SPIRITUALISTIC TESTS. 273 

Early the following spring, I went to Boston for 
the purpose among others of finding out the truth of 
this. I visited many mediums, but long failed to get 
what I wanted. Finally, one morning about ten, A.M., 
a public circle was being held in the back parlor of 
the Fountain House ; and, having a desire to attend, I 
went in. They had commenced operations before I 
arrived. When I entered the ropm, a medium from 
Cape Cod was speaking in a trance. 

He was standing back to the door, about four feet 
distant, when I entered. I had never seen or heard 
of him before. The moment I entered the room, he 
stopped speaking, turned his head partially round, 
and, lowering his voice, said, " Good morning, James." 
I instantly replied in a pompous manner, " My name 
is not James, but David," thinking I had him now. 
He quietly remarked, " I was speaking to James 
Madison." It proved to be Abner Kneeland, who 
was a contemporary of Madison before either left 
the form, who was speaking when I entered. These 
two possessed similar religious proclivities while liv- 
ing, and they met in friendship when they passed 
to the other side. To give any thing of an adequate 
sense of my feelings at that moment, is impossible. 
To sum all up, here was a perfect stranger to me, 
and I was a stranger to all present ; none but my- 
self in all the world knew of my anxiety to find 
out whether or not one particular spirit manifested 
through my organism ; and yet I got just what I 
wanted thus unexpectedly, when I wasn't thinking 
about it, and through a person who had .never yet 
seen me with his mortal eyes. This was a test that 



274 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the most incredulous could not gainsay or doubt. 
I felt mortified and chagrined at the rude, brusque 
manner, in which I had responded to what I thought 
was addressed to me personally, and sat down in one 
corner of the room feeling not far removed from a 
culprit. After the above encounter with Mr. Knee- 
land, he resumed his discourse, and having finished it, 
turned to Dr. Gardner, and said, " There is a spirit 
waiting for some one at the door of the room next to 
No. 29." This brought to mind an engagement I 
had with a medium to meet me at my room, No. 28, 
at that time, and which I had entirely forgotten. 
Here was another test through the same medium, at 
the same sitting, and before he had even seen my 
face. I had never doubted but that some invisible 
personality wrote through my hand, for I knew the 
writing was not subject to my will, and was with me 
purely mechanical, devoid of a particle of volition on 
my part ; but, whether it was the particular person it 
claimed to be, I didn't know. Now my doubts were 
entirely removed ; and, as if this wasn't enough, Mr. 
Madison took the medium before he had opened his 
eyes, and wound his way around through the people, 
and came to the remote corner where I was sitting. 
Then stooping down he repeated a communication 
of about ten lines that had been written through me 
some two weeks before. After he had repeated it he 
said, " James Madison : that name was attached to 
the written communication." Then he said, " Do you 
remember?" I told him I did partially; he again 
repeated it., and then said, " Do you recollect now ? " 
I told him I did ; after which the medium came to his 



SPIRITUALISTIC TESTS. 275 

normal condition, entirely unconscious of what he had 
been doing ; and yet he had done much to satisfy me 
that spirits hold converse with earth's children. 

After the above experience I rapidly unfolded in 
writing, and healing by laying-on of hands ; which 
latter power unfolded in a remarkable degree. I shall 
specify some of the many cures, farther on. The 
spirits began to give me tests in writing ; some of 
them were very marked, and a few of them I will 
relate. 

It had become a custom with me, after the day's 
work was done, to sit at a table by mj^self, and solicit 
spirits to communicate by tipping and writing ; some- 
times also raps would come, but the latter were merely 
slight sounds by which I never could get any thing 
satisfactory. On the 13th of April, soon after I sat 
down, the following words were written : " We want 
you to go to Boston." That was all. And for several 
evenings nothing else came. Finally one evening I 
asked, " What do you want me to go to Boston for ? " 
In response they wrote, " To attend a Spiritual conven- 
tion." Upon asking the question, when and where 
it was to be held, they wrote, " It is to be held the 
27th of May." Relating to where it was to be held, 
they wrote, " It is undecided." Up to the 13th of 
May, nothing else was written but, " Go to Boston." 
Do all I could, nothing else would come. I had be- 
come wearied with the whole thing, and, if in my 
power, would have cut short all further communi- 
cation ; for wherever I was, whether talking with a 
friend on business or any other subject, my hand 
would often write the few words, " Go to Boston." 



276 AUTOBIOGBAPHY. 

Finally on the evening of the 13th of May, just a 
month since the first direction to go to Boston was 
written, I asked, " Which way shall I go ? " There 
were three practical ways, — one by stage to Bath, from 
there by rail ; another by boat to Portland, and from 
there by rail ; and still another by boat from Rockland 
direct to Boston. Instantly they wrote, " Go in ; The 
Governor.' " " What," I says, " yon don't mean the old 
steamer ' Governor,' that used to run from Bangor to 
Boston ? " My hand immediately wrote, " The same." 
Now, I thought I had got them for sure, because the 
old " Governor " had been burned up some three years 
before in New York ; so the papers said, and every- 
body seemed pleased at it, because she was not con- 
sidered seaworthy. I then told them these facts with 
considerable satisfaction, at being able to teach those 
something, who I had been taught knew every thing. 
However, this information made no difference in their 
writing ; for every night when I sat down to the table, 
from the loth to the 25th of May inclusive,* nothing 
would be written but " Go in ' The Governor.' ' The 
morning following, going up town, I met Mr. Willard 
Farwell, who I knew was agent for this boat when 
she ran on the Bangor and Boston route ; and I asked 
him in an off-hand manner, what had become of the 
steamer " Governor." He. responded, " She has gone 
to h — 1 : didn't you know that she was burned up 
three years ago in New York ? " I told him I recol- 
lected something about it, but was not quite sure it 
was correct. " Oh, yes ! " he continued, " she has gone 
to her long home, and a good job it was for the travel- 
ling public." This boat was never a favorite with 



FAITH IN SPIRITUALISM SHAKEN. 277 

travellers, and everybody avoided going in lier if they 
could help it, for she was not considered safe ; and 
hence there was a general rejoicing when the news 
reached Rockland of her tragic end. 

Of course I said nothing to Mr. Far well as to my 
object of asking about her. Now I thought I had 
something tangible by which I could substantiate the 
oft-repeated saying among sceptics, that, if there were 
spirits that could communicate with mortals, they 
were unreliable. Of course there could be no doubt 
about it in this case, whatever there might be in 
others. 

By this time I had become quite noted as a splen- 
did medium ; and, among my friends who were real 
believers in the philosophy, was a Capt. Israel Snow, 
who had a daughter who was a good medium, and at 
whose house I had often sat in circles. Oii my way 
home I called upon him, and showed him the commu- 
nication in relation to " The Governor." He seemed 
astounded, and asked me if they wrote but that once ; 
I told him tha.t a dozen times the same thing came. 
" Now," I said, " Capt. Snow, this thing is perfectly 
unreliable ; and let us have nothing more to do with 
it," continuing, " As far as I'm concerned, if I'm 
obliged to write (which, as before stated, I could not 
resist), I shall make no more account of it than I would 
of the wild ravings of a maniac." The following even- 
ing Capt. Snow and family spent with me. He tried 
every possible way to get my hand to write something 
in explanation ; but " Go in the Governor," was all the 
response we could get ; and for twelve days nothing 
else would come. In the mean time we had learned 

24 



278 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

through a Spiritual paper, " The New England Spirit- 
ualist," that there was to be a Spiritual convention 
held on the 27th and 28th inst. ; and some dozen 
friends, favorable to the cause, concluded to attend. 
Among the number was Capt. Israel Snow above 
alluded to, and family, also my wife. Pressing busi- 
ness prevented me from attending, which I should 
have been pleased to do, although my faith had 
waned : still I really hoped that what had proved 
such a stumbling-block might be removed. 

It was agreed to take the boat from Bangor to 
Boston on its outward trip, on the afternoon of the 
25th, whigh would get along to our place, Rock- 
land, about four, p.m. I attended the party to the 
wharf, all the while chaffing the deluded ones on 
their prospective " wild-goose chase." Soon after we 
got to the place of landing, I saw a boat rounding 
Ingraham's Point, some four miles distant. I called 
Capt. Snow's attention to it, saying in a sort of 
sneering way, " There comes ' The Governor,' Capt. 
Snow." He paid no attention to my poking fun at 
his credulity, evidently not a little puzzled himself 
at the way things had turned. We paid no farther 
attention to the approaching boat, thinking all the 
time it was the " Boston," a new boat that had been 
on the route but a short time. When she was ran- 
ging up alongside the wharf, we were all standing 
with our backs to the water ; but, as she came into 
the wharf, I turned my head partly round, and to 
my astonishment saw on the wheel-house in large 
letters, " Governor." For a moment I was paralyzed. 
Soon I turned Capt. Snow round, pointing to the ' 



FIBST EEAL TEST. 279 

letters, saying, " Look ! " Sure enough, there was the 
identical old " Governor," which everybody thought 
was burned up three years ago, Capt. S. as well 
as the rest ; for they all knew of the spirits writing 
through me so much about going in " The Governor," 
when we all thought there was no " Governor " to go 
in, at least not the one that used to run on that 
route. They were dumbfounded, and for a moment 
no one spoke. At last Capt. Snow says, " I hope 
you won't doubt any more about spirits being able to 
communicate to mortals, much less doubt your own 
mediumship." Although I had received a few con- 
vincing tests through a third person, as before related, 
yet this being the first real test through my own 
mediumship, and under such test conditions, I con- 
fess that I felt highly gratified ; and, to tell the exact 
truth, not a little vain at being a favored medium for 
the transmission of the thoughts of higher intelli- 
gences roaming at will through the more rarefied 
atmosphere of the summer-land. 

The illustrative facts of the case were these : The 
steamer " Boston," on her trip to Boston, became 
disabled through the breaking of her machinery, 
repair of which made it necessary for her to lose one 
trip or more ; and " The Governor " lying at one of 
the wharves, happening to be unemployed, the agent 
of the " Boston " hired the former to take the place 
of the disabled boat. She passed up toward Ban- 
gor at two or three oclock in the morning, and no 
one but the agent at Rockland and a very few others 
knew of the accident ; certainly no one of our party 
did. " The Governor " did get on fire, and burned to 



280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

the water's edge, but subsequently was rebuilt ; and, 
as she was employed in carrying passengers and 
freight up the Hudson River, her total loss by fire 
was never contradicted. How she happened to be in 
Boston at this particular time, or how she happened 
to be unemployed, I do not know. But one thing is 
certain : our party of investigators did go to Boston, 
and return, in the old " Governor ; " and she was never 
seen East again. 

I have been thus particular in giving the details of 
this case, for two reasons : one of which is, that, if 
what I had before received had inclined me to credit 
the reality of spirit-communion, this test removed 
every lingering doubt that might be lurking in my 
naturally sceptical mind ; the other reason is, or was, 
that it established beyond all cavil the genuineness 
of my own mediumship. At the time this occurred, I 
could see, or rather had seen, enough to convince me 
that there were spirits so far advanced in the laws 
of life, that they could see somee vents pertaining to 
particular mortals, that would transpire in the future, 
with the same precision that they could those already 
experienced; but how they could tell about the 
breaking of a piece of iron, thirteen days before it 
transpired, was and is a mystery that has thus far 
eluded all my efforts to unravel. At any rate, this 
proved, to me at least, that what had all down the 
ages been called prophesying future events, and was 
always clouded in mystery and doubt, was now no 
mystery at all as to the fact ; because I could see that 
our course was all mapped out, and that highly un- 
folded spirits could discern all the prominent capes 



SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. 281 

and headlands on the voyage of each mortal's life, 
that must be doubled, with the same precision that 
the skilful navigator before leaving home can tell 
precisely what capes and headlands he must inevitably 
pass before he can reach his port of destination ; but 
the precise moment when he will double any head- 
land or cape depends entirely upon circumstances. 
If the winds are favorable, and invariable in velocity, 
and he knows precisely the speed of the ship, he can 
tell very near at what time he will pass a certain 
point on his outward voyage. Just so with spirits : 
they can see, on the chart of one's life, that he must 
inevitably pass a certain point ; but when, as in the 
case of the ship, depends entirely upon circumstances. 
I have no doubt there are spirits that could tell pre- 
cisely any event of any mortal's life, and the precise 
time any particular event would occur, if it were 
really useful ; but such are extremely rare visitants, 
or rather are so far advanced in spiritual lore, and so 
unable to communicate to us, excepting through 
successive mediums all the way down from their high 
estate, that, by the time it reaches us, their informa- 
tion is so warped and twisted from the original, that 
but little semblance of the genuine may reach us : 
hence so many mistakes as to when certain things 
will transpire. At first, not unlike almost everybody 
else, I thought spirits were infallible, and that they 
knew every thing that ever did or would transpire in 
this whirling, bustling world ; and not only that, but 
that they could tell the very moment when each 
event would take place. This led me into many 
wild-goose chases, often resulting in bringing me 

24* 



282 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

deep chagrin and humility; but it taught me one 
grand lesson, viz., to accept nothing that did not 
comport with my reason and better judgment. 

I might rehearse many amusing incidents in the 
first years of my experience, as to how the spirits 
tried to make me believe I was the most wonderful 
man on this planet, and to the marvellous works they 
were going to do through my wonderful organism. 
To tickle my fancy, and especially to develop still 
further my already overgrown vanity, they told me 
that they had been searching the world over for just 
such a man as my humble self; and, to crown all, 
with much dignity and a show of solemn sincerity 
they named me " the Franklin of the nineteenth 
century." They told me, among other things, that 
the vast resources of the spirit-world were at my 
command, &c. Among the most ridiculous things 
they were going to accomplish through my wonderful 
self, was building ships that would go through water 
with lightning speed, and supersede all other sea- 
going craft in transporting freight and passengers 
from one point to another. The propelling power 
was to be electricity; and this was to.be placed in 
the stern, unlike our ocean-steamers, corresponding to 
human craniology, thus saving much valuable space 
for freight and passengers. There was another 
quality attached to these ships, so ridiculously absurd 
that I refrain from speaking of it. 

Although I could not see in myself a particle of a 
Franklin either in philosophy or genius, and often 
told them so, yet reasoning upon the above hypothe- 
sis, and taking for granted their explanation, when I 



FALSE SPIRITS. 283 

expressed a doubt that if my wonderful faculties did 
not then show themselves, they were only in a torpid 
condition, and would certainly come to the surface 
some time, through development, I confess that my 
reasoning upon the subject gave me a secret appre- 
hension, although I didn't dare to own it, that I was 
really somebody in embryo, and that some time in the 
future I should burst the shell of a " know-nothing," 
and flash upon the world like a brilliant meteor at 
noonday, eclipsing all others in wisdom, the veritable 
"Franklin of the nineteenth century ;" and in my 
vain imaginings would, fancy hearing people say, 
" What a bundle of wisdom is this wonderful man ! " 
This condition of things lasted some four or five 
years, which time, with all the means I could com- 
mand, was devoted entirely and conscientiously to 
the behests of the spirit of the great philosopher ; I 
going hither and thither as he directed through his 
communicator. When the shell did burst, instead 
of becoming the great one that was to be, I found 
myself still the poor, credulous David C. Densmore, 
who entered the movement with such bright pros- 
pects years before, poor in purse, with entire loss of 
all the confidence of his most intimate friends, and 
former business acquaintances ; for all of them with- 
out an exception considered him a worthy candidate 
for an insane-asylum. The prophesies which most 
elated me came through the organism of a man 
eminent for his goodness. It will probably be asked, 
since I was such a good medium, why my friends did 
not, through my own mediumship, post me as to the 
non-reality of these things. They did so a thousand 



284 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

times ; but I felt such inferiority in purity and good- 
ness to this great and good man as persuaded me 
that I could not myself have as truthful revelations 
from the world of causes as he could ; and hence I 
totally ignored my own mediumship, and followed 
blindly and faithfully what came through this highly 
favored mortal. I mention these circumstances in 
my experience, not to impeach the truthfulness of 
the medium through whom the above and hundreds 
of other seemingly non-practical things come, but to 
show how careful we ought to be in accepting any 
thing that does not tally with our own reason, no 
matter how high may be the pretensions of those 
through whom it comes. If I had not received 
indubitable evidence, through my own mediumship, 
of the reality of spirit-commune, these revelations 
of seeming duplicity on the part of what purported 
to be truthful spirits would have shaken my faith in 
every thing outside of my physical senses; but I 
had been, as before stated, favored with so many 
instances of special helps in trying emergencies, from 
unseen sources, all the way up from childhood, 
coupled with my unfolding as a medium for giving 
indubitable evidence that guardian spirits constantly 
aid and assist when most needed, through my own 
mediumship, that faith and belief had become 
merged into positive knowledge. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HEALING THE SICK BY LAYING-ON OF HANDS, AND 
OFTEN WITHOUT CONTACT WITH THE PATIENT. 

Healing by laying-on of hands has been success- 
fully practised among all nations from time immemo- 
rial ; it is as old as the human race itself. Some 
attribute the efficacy to one thing, some to another. 
Some think the benefit is produced by psychology, — 
will-power, — the stronger will overpowering the 
weaker. There are some who say it is a special inter- 
position of the Almighty through some of his saintly 
children : notably is this said in the Catholic Church. 
Then there are others who say that this power, or 
faculty, comes through prayer direct from God, with 
no mundane will-power about it. Then there is still 
another class who maintain that the benefit is pro- 
duced by neither one nor the other of the above, but 
that it is emanated from a positive power, independ- 
ent of either God's or man's will, which power acting 
through certain mediums, sometimes aided by the 
galvanic battery, medicated vapor baths, &c, cures 
all curable diseases flesh is heir to. This last phase 
often has seemed to be my mode of cure, by which I 
have been eminently successful in chronic com- 
plaints, more especially where the internal organs 

285 



286 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

were diseased; the lungs, throat, stomach, spleen, 
liver, and kidneys yielding very readily to this treat- 
ment, no matter how long they may have been 
affected, providing there is sufficient vitality left to 
build upon. Although I may not have a doubt but 
that the will-power of the operator, if strongly con- 
centrated and powerfully exercised, may contribute 
to this result, and although he may say and think to 
the contrary, yet my impressions are that the real 
healing essence in all forms of mediumistic practice 
emanates from one and the same source ; viz., spirits 
acting through differently constituted organisms, and 
instruments and medicines employed. I think it is 
the same with the old-school physicians, where they 
are most successful ; and, although they give the 
credit of cure to medicines skilfully and scientifically 
administered, their success, I think, depends much 
more, if not wholly, upon the healing power working 
out from within themselves, than upon draughts from 
the apothecary-shop. It is said that the most suc- 
cessful practitioners in the old school give the 
least medicine. Dr. Abernethy once said, that, as 
a whole, the world would have been better off if 
there never had been a graduate from the mills 
where they turn out M.D's; continuing, "I have no 
doubt but that there are isolated cases where the 
doctor has been practically useful, but these are 
rare." This is meant to apply to doctors commonly 
called the " scientists of medicine ; " though, in fact, 
there is no science about their work, it being purely 
experimental, as any one can see who will give it a 
moment's reflection. For example : when a member 



HEALING THE SICK. 287 

of some family is suddenly taken ill with some of 
the many diseases affecting mankind, the family 
physician is sent for; and if the ailment does not 
prove to be one of the simplest, but is some inter- 
nal complicated affair, the pl^sician feels the pulse, 
looks at the tongue, is puzzled to know what to 
administer, because, as is known by every physician, 
the greatest difficulty is to diagnose and ascertain 
the real nature and cause of the disease, and this 
because many a single symptom may appertain to a 
dozen diseases or more ; he also knows, even if he 
happens to diagnose correctly, — which is seldom the 
case where he depends upon symptoms, for reasons 
above given, — he is as much puzzled as ever as to 
what to administer, from the fact that " what is one 
man's meat is another's poison ; " or, in other words, 
what will work favorably with one may work diamet- 
rically opposite with another, who manifests precisely 
the same symptoms. The poor doctor looks as if, 
and really he is, " at sea," without chart or compass. 
He can only guess what to do in the premises ; finally 
after a good deal of thinking he makes up his mind, 
fills out a formula in Latin, and some one starts 
upon the " double-quick" for an apothecary's shop; 
the doctor leaving strict injunctions, that, if the 
medicine don't work so and so, to let him know at 
once. The medicine proves insufficient ; the doctor 
is recalled; upon entering the sickroom, he finds the 
patient worse ; again he goes over the same roll of 
pulse and tongue analyzing, and finally changes the 
medicine entirely ; and, upon leaving, gives the same 
injunctions as upon his first visit. The patient is 



288 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

sinking fast : again the physician is hastily sent for, 
and upon arrival finds the patient very low. If the 
sufferer be wealthy, another or two M.D.'s are sent 
for, and hold a private consultation with the first one, 
and they conclude that nothing more can be done, 
that nothing can save the patient ; and so report to 
the anxiously waiting friends of the invalid. Science 
has failed : the patient dies, and all the consolation 
the mourning friends have, is that he died by law 
and gospel ; and they charge it all upon God, who 
baffled the skill of science, and took the poor sufferer 
to himself. This is a fair representation of many 
cases occurring every day and hour. Now, is it not 
hard to find one particle of real science in the prac- 
tice of the old-school physicians ? but the easiest 
thing in the world to see, that the whole system, from 
beginning to end, is nothing more or less than sheer 
speculation and unsuccessful experiments. To call 
it by any milder name than murder, would be to 
stultify reason and common-sense, which is done by 
those persisting to call things by wrong names, only 
because backed up by law and common usage. 

I am not unaware that this is strong language, and 
may be looked upon, by those mostly interested in 
keeping up the delusion, as rank heresy; and who 
would, if in their power, invoke the strong arm of 
the law to put it down, as has been done in five States 
of this free (?) country ; that is to say, science has 
instituted laws in these five States, prohibiting, under 
heavy penalties, the practice of healing the sick with- 
out having obtained a diploma from certain colleges ; 
thus virtually telling the sick, " You must be treated 



HEALING THE SICK. 289 

so and so, pay your money, take the consequences, and 
say nothing." That such a law exists on the statute- 
books of any State, does not reflect very favorably 
upon the intelligence of this or any other country ; 
and yet it is so. I do not wish to be understood as 
discarding medicine by any means : far otherwise ; 
for I believe that the very fact that disease exists, is 
proof that there is somewhere in Nature's vast 
domain an antidote for every disease ; the difficulty 
is to ^ find it, and adapt it properly to the sufferers 
needing it. Until this is known, the whole system 
of medicine must, to all reflecting minds, rest under 
the opprobious name " guesswork," or consummate 
" quackery." The limits of this book preclude the 
possibility of an extended rehearsal. My purpose 
calls for no extended specification of the blunders 
made by the " regulars " in their extensive practice : 
I must confine myself to a few, coming under my 
own personal observation, where patients have been 
given over to die by the old-school practitioners, and 
afterwards entirely restored to health and usefulness, 
simply through manipulation with the hands of 
certain mediums called healers. Well-authenticated 
cases all down the stream of time, from the remotest 
ages of antiquity, as well as of more recent date, 
could be cited to prove that an actual power exists, 
exercised through certain persons, which arrests 
disease often instantly, and restores the sufferer to 
his normal health, after, as before stated, the medical 
faculty has utterly failed to even relieve, the sufferer, 
much less to cure him. This, as in my own case, is 
often brought about instantly, without my even 

25 ' 



290 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

knowing at the time that there is any disease in the 
persons cured ; for instance, a person lying speechless, 
and to all outward appearance dead, my undesigned 
coming in contact with him has caused him to 
revive : this proves that there is a positive power 
existing somewhere, that brings about this wonderful 
change. The first case of curing without contact 
that came under my own observation, which I was 
willing to accept as real (although many had made 
declarations of like results before), was that of Mr. 
A. E. Newton, then editor and publisher of the New 
England Spiritualist newspaper, printed in Boston. I 
had never met Mr. Newton previously; but, from 
what I had heard of him, I had a strong desire to 
make his acquaintance. One rainy morning in the 
last days of April, I called upon him at his residence 
in Tyler Street. I found him enveloped in a large 
shawl, and hovering over a stove, trying to get warm : 
he had taken a bad cold, and was trying to get up a 
perspiration. I seated myself on a sofa some eight 
or ten feet from him, conversing upon various topics, 
when, after fifteen or twenty minutes, he said, " Do 
you know what you have been doing ? " Thinking 
I had said something not pleasant, I said, " No : I am 
not aware I have done any thing." He then said, 
" You certainly have." In answer to the query 
what it was, he said, " When you entered the room, 
I was suffering with a severe cold. I felt as though 
I would freeze, even over a good fire in the stove, 
though muffled up with shawl and cloak. The 
moment you entered, I began to feel better ; and soon 
after, as you may have observed, threw the shawl off, 



HEALING THE SICK. 291 

and moved back ; and, though the fire has gone out, 
I now am sweating profusely from .head to foot. 
Come and make a few passes on my head, and I shall 
be well." I did so, and he was entirely cured ; put 
on his boots and greatcoat at once, and went down 
town, and attended to his business all day, returning 
after sunset, when he told me he never felt better in 
his life. The stove was made of sheet-iron, heated 
with pine wood which soon burned up. I selected 
this case out of a great many, not that there was any 
thing remarkable about it, excepting that it was the 
first case coming under my own personal experience 
and observation, to show that there was not a parti- 
cle of will-power, or volition, on my part ; for I didn't 
have belief that such a power existed in me, though 
others had told me of singular effects from me 
before, which I thought was pure fancy on their part. 
Mr. Newton printed quite a long article in his paper, 
relating the whole story in detail as here stated, 
leaving out my name per request, as I, not unlike 
many others at that early stage of recognition of 
healing by this process, did not want my name iden- 
tified with a subject so unpopular, even if it was 
true. 

At one time, when attending to business not con- 
nected with healing, I. was called upon one morning 
by a Dr. Smith, a professor in one of the colleges in 
the city of Cincinnati, who said he wanted me to go 
with him, and visit a young man who was dying ; for 
my doing so would, he said, gratify a whim of his 
distracted mother. I refused to go ; but he urged 
me quite earnestly, saying it would gratify the poor 



292 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

woman if she could see me ; continuing, " The young 
man commenced dying at midnight." This was said 
about nine, A.M. He said we should probably find 
him dead when we arrived. He seemed to be so 
anxious, that I finally concluded to go along. To 
encourage me he said that nothing could be done, 
nor did the mother expect any thing could restore 
her dear boy to life. On our way to the house he 
related the history of the case, and stated that all 
the most celebrated physicians in the city had been 
called in and consulted with, and that himself had 
been the family physician for the past twenty years. 
He thought Mrs. Weaver, the mother of the lad, was 
losing her mind ; for, said he, " She came to me an hour 
or so ago in an excited manner, and asked me if I 
knew of a magnetizer." I told her, no, but that I 
knew a man that did. " Well," she says, " I want you 
to get a magnetizer." — " What for ? " said I : " He is 
dying, and nothing can rescue him from the grim 
monster." — "I know that," said she ; " but I got 
thinking, as we had tried all the skill in the city, and 
failed, if we also got a magnetizer, that, after Willie 
should be buried, I should have nothing to regret, 
because then I could say we had tried all systems 
of cure." He continued, " I could not withstand this 
heart appeal." The family lived at 455 Fifth Street. 
I found the dying one on a lounge in the back parlor, 
no pulse, entirely unconscious, surrounded by his 
anxious friends and relatives ; and with Dr. Smith 
were seven old-school physicians watching the dying 
moments of the young man. 

Everybody was standing up. They took no notice 



HEALING THE SICK. 293 

•of me, a charlatan and impostor. The moment I 
entered the sickroom, I saw the position I had got 
into, and for a moment would have given any thing 
I possessed in the world to get out of the scrape. I 
took a seat at the head of the lounge, and, for the 
want of something to divert my distracted feelings 
from the embarrassing attitude I had involuntary 
got into, placed my right hand upon the lad's fore- 
head, and with the other took one of his. Thus I 
sat in perfect silence, looking down on the floor ; for, 
to tell the truth, I couldn't look up. I fancied I saw 
crimson daggers streaming from the eyes of those 
scientists, all concentrated upon my vitals. Whether 
I did or not really, I actually felt their sharp points 
piercing my heart, and thought I heard them say, 
" Wonder what he'll attempt to do, after science has 
failed;" they expecting, as a matter of course, that 
I would try. To give description of my feelings at 
that moment is impossible, and I will not attempt it : 
suffice it to say, that while looking down, regretting 
my thoughtlessness in being wheedled into such an 
unenviable position, my eye fell upon the hand I was 
holding; and to my astonishment I perceived the 
blood-veins filling up, precisely as I have seen an 
empty hose fill out when lying irregularly on the 
ground, and water was let on. For an instant I was 
almost paralyzed ; for here circulation was going on in 
a person I ' thought was near, if not already on, the 
other side of this life. To me he looked like a 
corpse ; and no one was expected to even attempt to 
do any thing for him. I had not, up to this time, 
examined him. After perceiving the circulation, I 

25* 



294 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

gently turned my head, and noticed the muscles of one 
eye and right side of his mouth twitching slightly ; 
at the same time I perceived that the malady was 
the congestive chills, which had wrought such fearful 
havoc with this beautifully developed young man. 
The symptoms of chills represent so many diseases 
that, with all their science, the doctors had failed to 
diagnose correctly the cause of the sad condition of 
things. Instantly after noticing that the circulation 
was coming back, and the wheels of motion were 
again slowly revolving around their normal axes, I 
beckoned to the mother, who was standing near 
weeping, and whispered in her ear, " Get them all out 
of the room." No one perceived any change but 
myself ; for all were intently gazing on me to . see 
what I would do, if any thing. Soon the room was 
cleared, Dr. Smith being the last. As the latter 
passed me, he stooped down, and whispered, " May I 
stay? " I told him " No." He then asked, " What 
do you call it?" meaning the disease; and to my 
response, "congestive chills," he expressed great 
surprise by holding up both hands, knowing, that 
if I was correct, which now he was perhaps inclined 
to believe, they had been treating him altogether 
wrong. When the coast was clear, I got my hand 
over the region of the stomach, and he showed signs 
of life, and soon opened his eyes. The first sentence 
he uttered was, " I wish you would get these plugs 
out of my nose." I should say, that, in addition to 
the seven medical doctors, they had employed a 
surgeon from one of the hospitals, to stop up the 
nose to prevent the blood from running out. He 



HEALING THE SICK. 295 

had been sick so long (some three months), and 
taken so much medicine, his blood had become so 
thin it would not coagulate ; and hence when he was 
lying on his side it would run out of his nose like 
water. I kept him still a few moments, and then 
removed them ; and in twenty-three minutes he was 
sitting up laughing. He gained so rapidly that 
Thursday morning (it being Tuesday when I first 
called), he answered the bell himself, when I rung 
it; and in a week's time went down town. Of course 
all the regulars were dismissed ; and I attended him 
some four or five days, when he was as well as 
myself. 

Now, here was a young man, nineteen years old, 
the only child of a wealthy family, being poisoned 
to death with the nostrums and drugs of science, 
and who but for the " foolish crazy whim " of the 
anxious mother, as Dr. Smith called her singular 
request, would have been been laid away in the 
silent tomb, a victim of consummate ignorance in 
the important principles of pharmacy. Who will 
say this is not actually murdering by the slow pro- 
cess of poisoning with drugs called, by misnomer, 
medicine ? Medicine, to merit its high name, should 
cure the disease for which it is administered. If it 
fails to do that, and the patient dies through a mis- 
conception of its virtues, then it ought to take the 
name of poison, which it really is ; and the prescriber 
of it should be dealt with as he would be for admin- 
istering any admitted deadly poison, because the same 
result ensues in both cases ; the only difference 
being that the fatal narcotic accomplished its work 



296 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

more rapidly, which, if it makes a difference, is in 
the poisoner's favor. 

At another time, in an inland town, a man was 
suffering with some obstinate disease, the nature of 
which the family physician failed to know ; it baffled 
all his skill to arrest it. Finally another physician 
was called to a private consultation. After due 
deliberation, they both concluded that nothing could 
be done to save the man from dying, as he was very 
low and entirely unconscious. After the doctors had 
reported the result of their deliberations, the anxious 
wife and relatives sent for me, because the sick man 
had, when first taken ill, expressed a desire to have 
my services. I was living only a short distance 
away, and was pretty well acquainted with the fam- 
ily. I went immediately to the house ; found the 
man speechless and unconscious. The moment I got 
to him, I perceived the trouble ; and suddenly turning 
to ask his wife for some herbs* one of the M.D.'s 
(they were both still present) says, " What do you 
call it, Mr. Densmore ?" — " Small-pox, Mr. H— 1," 
says I. As he chose to call my name without a pro- 
fessional handle preceding it, deriding my simple 
mode of cure, I paid him in his own coin, by calling 
him Mr. H — 1. Leaving out details of this to me 
interesting case, I will merely say, that in less than 
one hour the pox came to the surface, covering his 
entire body from head to foot; so near together were 
the pustules that scarcely a pin's point could be put 
on his body without coming in contact with them. 
The moment the disease left the vitals for the sur- 
face, the man was relieved* and came to conscious- 



HEALING THE SICK. 297 

ness. The doctors remained until they heard the 
man say to me, " I wanted you all the time, but they 
[meaning his aristocratic relatives] wouldn't send for 
you." Then the M.D.'s left. Thus it will be seen 
that the doctors failed in the diagnosis ; hence their 
failure in aiding Nature to cure the disease. If they 
had known what disease the man was laboring under, 
they could have administered medicines that would 
have relieved him in an hour; but, depending alto- 
gether upon symptoms, they administered drugs that 
aggravated instead of lessening the trouble ; and but 
for the timely aid of one who, upon entering the sick- 
room, instantly comprehended clearly the nature of 
the disease, and used means to put to rout the insidi- 
ous and fatal monster, would have been laid away, 
labelled as usual in such cases, " The Lord has taken 
the sufferer to himself; " and nobody would ever have 
been any the wiser as to the nature of the disease 
that carried him off. The taking immediate measures 
to prevent the malady from spreading among the 
healthy denizens of the country village would not 
have occurred if the nature of the malady had not 
been detected in time. As it was, the. disease did 
not seize upon any neighbor ; and only one member 
of the family besides the father was attacked with it, 
and he lightly. 

Had I space, I could enumerate numerous cases 
similar to the foregoing, in my own experience, be- 
sides ten times that number by other impressional 
and intuitive healers all over the wide world ; many 
of whom may have been more successful than myself 
in arresting disease from the iron grasp of the total 



298 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

incapacity of scientific regulars to detect the nature 
and cause of disease. Among the most notable and 
successful of modern healers in our country is Dr. J. R. 
Newton. Among the many thousands, more or less, 
that he has treated, not more than one per cent, and 
probably less, but had been given over by the allo- 
paths as incurable; and all, or nearly all, because of 
sheer inability to trace effects to the causes that pro- 
duced them. It is obvious that evfcry disease must 
any wise have a cause, the detection of which must 
precede application to ward off its legitimate effect. 

Disease generally is but a negative condition of the 
system ; whereas vitality, or the life-giving principle, 
whether produced from drugs or magnetism, is posi- 
tive. If this be conceded, and also that no two 
things can occupy the same space at the same time, 
it follows, that, if by any process vitality can be 
forced into the sj^stem, the positive must take the 
place of the negative ; and, being superior, conva- 
lescence must inevitably be the result. Light 
brought into a dark room drives out the darkness. 
Why? Because light is positive, while darkness is 
negative ; hence there can be no darkness where this 
positive, or light, prevails. So just as far as this posi- 
tive principle is introduced into the sick or diseased 
body (call it by what name we may), just so far is 
disease displaced ; and, if continued in the ascendant 
a sufficient length of time, the sick, distressed body, 
either speedily or gradually, assumes a healthy condi- 
tion, and the suffering invalid is restored to health 
and usefulness. 

Sometimes this change is brought about almost 



HEALIKG THE SICK. 299 

instantly; and then, again, several treatments are 
necessary to effect a permanent cure. This usually 
depends more upon the adaptability of the physician 
and patient to each other, than upon a lack of heal- 
ing power. Hence any healer may find it needful 
to act a longer time on one patient than on another. 
Sometimes he will fail entirely. But it is no proof, 
because I can't effect a cure, that nobody else can. 
In the case of the young man referred to in Cincin- 
nati, our magnetisms were completely adapted to each 
other ; hence the remarkable suddenness of his con- 
valescence. I might operate upon a hundred cases 
seemingly precisely similar, and not in one of them 
would success reward the effort as speedily as in that 
case, and maybe many would be failures altogether ; 
and yet some one else, of magnetisms different from 
mine, might produce as happy result, where I should 
fail, as attended the case referred to. 

It is a great mistake to conclude, because one 
is successful in one bad case, that he can succeed 
equally well in all cases- of apparently the same nature 
and state. It has not been so in my case, and from 
a long practice I believe the same rule holds good with 
every one. I fell into the common error near thirty 
years ago. I did not follow healing as a business 
at that time : yet, when I saw a fellow being suffer- 
ing, my sympathetic nature would go out to the suf- 
ferer, and, if in my power, I would relieve from the 
trouble. One day, casually meeting a lady who was 
suffering with nearly every disease that a female 
could have imposed upon her, I heard myself say to 
her, "I can cure you." She took a room in the hotel 



300 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

where I was boarding-, and put herself under my 
treatment. She had been doctoring a dozen years or 
so, under all the different phases of practice, and was 
so reduced in flesh that she at this time was merely a 
skeleton. Every thing she took into her stomach 
distressed her excessively ; even water would become 
sour the moment she drank it. She had a small chest 
full of different kinds of medicine; some of which 
she habitually took immediately after eating, to assist 
digestion. She was unable to walk around the room, 
without supporting herself by taking hold of the 
furniture. Under these conditions I undertook her 
case, treating her every evening, and attending to my 
ordinary business daytimes. Without either battery 
or any other assistance, use of my bare hands in 
five weeks and three days fitted her to eat a beef- 
steak, and digest it as readily as myself could ; and 
her powers of locomotion became such that she 
walked with me five miles, two and a half out and 
the same back ; and upon our return she ran up two 
flights of stairs with apparently less effort than I 
did. This to me was wonderful, and I began to 
build air-castles as to what I might do. The sick 
everywhere would be healed, for I could not con- 
ceive of a case in which there would be less promise 
of success than in this. 

I' was in high glee : every thing else seemed to 
dwindle down into insignificance when compared 
with this wonderful power of healing the sick with- 
out drugs or medicine, or aid of an M.D. 

I enjoyed this ecstatic state of feeling but a few 
days; for an incident soon transpired that fell like 



HEALING THE SICK. 301 

a black pall upon the spirit of my dreams. As soon 
as it got bruited around, what a wonderful healer I 
was, the halt, lame, and blind put in an appearance. 
The first case was a lady apparently afflicted with 
essentially the same difficulties as was the one above 
described, only not half as bad in extent. I thought 
I could cure her in a few days ; but, after trying nearly 
a week, she was no better. I gave it up ; and I really 
made myself apprehend that the first one I had tried 
my skill upon was an impostor, — that, in real truth, 
nothing of consequence was the matter with her. If 
I could have got where she was without a good deal 
of trouble, probably I should have relieved my mind 
by telling her of my suspicions. At any rate, I gave 
it up ; and if any said, as some had hundreds of times 
before, that by merely sitting near me they felt better, 
I would blow them up, often in not very soft lan- 
guage. Suffice it to say, that for a few years I would 
have nothing more to do with the pawing business, as 
I then called manipulating. I reasoned in this wise : 
If invisible healers can cure one of a certain malady, 
why not another having the same disease ? Unseen 
ones answered my reasonable question by asking an- 
other ; it was this : " If one cow has horns, why don't 
all cows have horns?" continuing, " When you can 
answer that question, you'll be in a condition to 
comprehend an answer to yours ; but at present you 
could not if we gave it ; and for the simple reason, 
that you are a mere child in the philosophy 'of life, 
and knowledge of laws governing it ; you might as 
well expect a child, when commencing the rudiments 
of mathematics, to comprehend and understand the 

26 



302 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

abstruse problems of Euclid, and the higher branches 
of the science, as to expect a taller child, before he 
has mastered the first principles of the science of life 
and the absolute laws governing them, to comprehend 
a firm answer to your question." A good deal more 
in this strain was said, which did not increase my 
vanity. I had been tenaciously prone from child- 
hood, when told any thing which I did not fully 
understand, to ask why it was "so and so," and 
would not be put off with an evasive answer : yet I 
was often obliged to accept an effect, without even 
attempting to trace it to its cause. After being taken 
down a good many pegs, in my vaunted knowledge 
of phenomena which I knew positively nothing about, 
I found I was but a mere apology for a scientific man, 
and contented myself with the fact, that, although my 
reason and better judgment told me there must be a 
cause for every effect, I must wait until I had at last 
got rid of my swaddling-clothes of ignorance before I 
arrogated to myself knowledge which could be gained 
only by experience and persevering industry. These 
questions being disposed of in this summary manner, 
there was nothing left for me to do, but either become 
reconciled to my own ignorance in the matter, and 
take for granted what came through my organism to 
be genuine, or else repudiate the whole thing, and 
give it up entirely. After considering the matter in 
all its bearings, and reflecting, that, if human testimony 
was good for any thing, I certainly had been the means 
of actually curing a great many of my suffering fellow- 
creatures of long-standing chronic complaints, after 
they had been given over to die by the allopaths, 



HEALIKG THE SICK. 303 

I concluded to accept the former, and do the best 
I could. After coming to the above conclusion, 
although attending to my ordinary business as usual, 
whenever I saw discouraged sickly-looking invalids, 
and felt clear impressions that I could benefit them, 
I would tell them so ; always very cautious, however, 
not to hold out hopes, only to be crushed in the now 
hopeful sufferer ; and I found, that, whenever I fol- 
lowed these impressions implicitly, I seldom failed in 
producing favorable results ; and I might add never 
failed when the patient acceded to the conditions I en- 
joined at the beginning of treatments. And although 
I could not see any reason why " one should be taken, 
and another left," yet, as before stated, I could tell at 
sight whether I could or could not benefit the patient, 
thus leaving nothing to speculation or experiment. 

After drifting about for a few years, doing but 
little in healing, I found myself in New York at the 
corner of Fourteenth Street and Sixth Avenue, where 
through the. commendations of Mrs. and Dr. Hay den 
I succeeded in a short time in getting quite a reputa- 
tion as a successful healer. Dr. Hayden and wife had 
had ocular demonstrations of my healing power years 
before, in their own family, I having cured Mrs. Hay- 
den and a small child, the latter on the verge of 
death. One day, while at the above place, two ladies 
entered. I knew by intuition that they were mother 
and daughter ; I also knew that the daughter was sick, 
and knew also that I could not cure her. They both 
came in looking hopeful; .the sick one seeming by 
her appearance to say, "Now I'm going to get well." 
Knowing I could not effect a cure, I commenced run- 



304 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

ning over in my mind how I should tell them of my 
inability in such a way as not to blast their sanguine 
hopes too suddenly. At last I hit upon the following. 
Both were sitting in front of me, the mother to the 
right, her daughter to the left. I began by saying, 
" I do not pretend to cure all that come, do not attempt 
with more than half who apply, and not more than 
half the cases attempted result in total cure ; but all 
upon whom I try are benefited. Why this is so, I can- 
not tell : I only know it is. Now, if you were sick 
[pointing to the mother] I could cure you; but if this 
lady [pointing to the daughter] was suffering with a 
difficult, complicated disease, I couldn't cure her." 
The appearance to them was, that I didn't know 
which was sick, if either, nor the relation each bore 
to the other. " Oh ! " says the daughter, " I am the 
sick one, and I feel better already." I assured her 
I could never effect a cure of her if I worked on her 
ten years ; but, seeing they were much disappointed 
at my refusing to treat her at all, I gave them some 
encouragement by saying, " You must not suppose, 
that, because I cannot effect you favorably, no one 
else can." And was I impressed to tell them that a 
Dr. Scott, living somewhere on Fourth Street, could 
cure her. I think I had heard of him, but had never 
seen him, nor did I know where he lived ; yet I was 
compelled to tell them what I did. I was further im- 
pressed to tell them to enter Fourth Street at Sixth 
Avenue, and ride slowly across the city, watching 
the signs ; and that, before they got to the East River, 
they would find him. They were very favorably im- 
pressed towards me, and urged me very hard to try a 



HEALIKG THE SICK. 305 

few treatments ; finding I would not, they followed 
my instructions, found Dr. Scott, and in a week's time 
he had her as well as ever in her life. After finding 
she was gaining rapidly, they came to my office, and 
expressed so much gratitude, that I felt ashamed at 
the exuberance of their flattering expressions. They 
offered me money, which I refused ; but they were 
determined to do something to show their gratitude. 
So they hunted up all their sick friends and relatives, 
and brought them to me often in their own carriage. 
Almost every day they would bring a fresh instal- 
ment ; and they kept it up all the time I remained in 
the city. 

When I was telling them about my inability to 
affect some favorably, while others yielded readily, I 
had a vision that partly cleared up the mystery. I 
saw, a few feet from me and to the right' of the 
mother, two casks the size of barrels ; one was full 
of liquid, the other empty; and a siphon connected 
the two at the middle. The instant I was enchained 
by the vision, the water commenced running through 
the siphon into the empty barrel. Soon each barrel 
was half full. I perceived that the presentation was 
intended to illustrate the modus operandi of healing ; 
the water representing the life-giving fluid, call it 
magnetism, or by any other convenient name ; the 
strong, healthy, magnetism of or through the operator, 
going into the invalid, and filling him or her until 
both operator and recipient contain equal quantities, 
as in the case of the two barrels. But, as I did not 
see its application in cases where the magnetizer 
failed in benefiting the sufferer, I said mentally, 

26* 



306 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

if the vision was given for instruction I did not 
understand it. Instantly the scene was changed; 
and before me was a full and a nearly empty barrel, 
as at first. Directly the water commenced running 
into the empty one, with the same velocity as before ; 
but it run out almost as fast as it entered. Before 
it began to run, I noticed that the water in the 
receiving barrel seemed about two inches deep, but 
gradually lessened in depth as the volume from the 
full one lessened ; and, by the time the water had got 
down to the siphon, every drop had run out of the 
receiving one, while the other was half full/ This, 
I presumed, was intended to illustrate the healing 
process ; and it explained very clearly to me that this 
healing balm, or magnetism, could enter into and 
permeate all alike, and for the time being all might 
feel better ; though from some unexplainable cause 
some could not retain it, as was illustrated by the 
leaky barrel, and hence it failed in effecting their 
cure ; whereas those that did retain it would gene- 
rally get well. This, to me, did more to reconcile 
and harmonize " why one was taken, and the other 
left," than all the speculations and theorizing that 
ever emanated from the pretentious knowledge of 
those professing to know all about it. The only 
difficulty was to find out whom it would take, and 
whom reject : although I somehow could generally 
tell very correctly, I found many cases extremely 
difficult ; as, for instance, where the patient was, to 
use a homely phrase, on the fence, — that is, equally 
poised between life and death, unless they should 
receive other aid than mine. Where I found this to 



HEALING THE SICK. 307 

be the case, I would tell patients so ; and if they 
would run the risk of one course of treatment 
(which in all cases indicates the sequel), I would go 
ahead : otherwise T wouldn't attempt any thing. The 
foregoing has been my invariable course of procedure 
since I found out that there were many things the 
causes of which I could not see. But many such 
cases as at first I would reject now yield very 
readily ; and I think nearly all curable diseases come 
within my reach. Although, as stated before, hardly 
any one to me as David Densmore solely seems 
possible, yet, depending entirely upon the perceptions 
of an intuitive faculty which acts to some extent in 
all men and animals, I have been eminently success- 
ful. Often when there was nothing expected, and 
even when I did not know any thing was the matter, 
I have seen the greatest results: thus proving at 
least in my case, whatever it may be in others, that 
sometimes there is not a particle of human will- 
power, or psychology, about mediumistic healing ; 
hence, whatever is effected through my organism is 
exerted and guided by intelligence purely spiritual ; 
that is, the cure results from application of power 
by spiritual beings, they probably mingling their 
auras with my own to produce favorable results. 

Although I have been familiar with evidences of 
this occult power for removing disease during many 
years, yet, up to this hour, the results through my 
own mediumship seem wonderful, not to say incredible. 
I can hardly realize the facts, for I only rarely feel 
any thing, not even a particle of influence. It seems 
strange indeed, that a person who has been suffering 



308 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

for dozens of years, more or less, with scarce a 
moment's cessation, though at sometimes more than 
others, by merely having a few passes made over the 
distressed region outside of the clothes is instantly 
freed from the pains and aches. I neither see nor 
feel any thing nowadays, and experience no exhaus- 
tion of the physical ; therefore it is no wonder that 
the result looks even more surprising to me than to 
the recipients of the healing balm. 

I have dwelt longer upon this subject from the 
fact of its beneficence, not only in healing the 
physical disabilities of mankind, but in causing 
more real happiness to the struggling spirit while 
incased in a constantly decaying edifice, than all 
other things combined. It leads the storm-tossed 
mariner on life's social and moral seas into closer 
relations with the infinite, where knowledge gradu- 
ally tears away the thin partition that separates us 
from the world of causes, and shows to us in clear 
distinctness that we are constantly surrounded and 
watched over by loving friends gone before, who 
soothe us with hopeful, cheering words when de- 
sponding, and assist us when most we need. 



CHAPTER XV. 

AT HOME ON A VISIT — EXPERIENCES IN NEW YORK 
— VISIT TO CINCINNATI — GAS REGULATOR, WHAT 
BECAME OF IT — VISIT TO ST. LOUIS — WORK IN 
SHIPYARD — DRIVEN OUT OF TOWN BY ADVANCE 
OF A REBEL ARMY — STAY IN PADUCAH, KY. — 
TOWN OCCUPIED BY GEN. FORREST — FLEE TO 
METROPOLIS CITY — STEAMBOAT BUILDING, ETC. 

In the spring of 185-, I went to Buffalo, N.Y., 
where I engaged in building vessels for use on the 
lakes. The following August my family joined me. 
Here we lived about two years, and passed through 
some trying vicissitudes, owing to hard times, 
scarcity of work, and impaired health. 

In the summer of 1858 I worked in a machine- 
shop in Boston, and afterwards made two trips to 
Europe, for the purpose of selling patented boot- 
crimping machines and air-pressure churns ; in which 
business of purely mundane projection no desired 
success resulted from my efforts. I came home poor. 

My repeated failures caused nearly all my friends 
and acquaintances to come to the conclusion that I 
was a total failure, as far as business was concerned ; 
that I was wholly incompetent to manage any thing 
where tact and a small share of good common-sense 

309 



310 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. . 

were necessary to success; and few took pains to 
conceal their thoughts. Though, if I chanced to say 
any thing about business, they might not say so in 
so many words, by their looks and winks I could 
plainly see, that, to use a slang phrase, they took no 
stock in any thing coming from my demented and 
muddled brain. As I had embraced the great funda- 
mental truths, or rather facts, underlying the Spiritual 
philosophy, they attributed all my incompetence to 
that delusion, as they were pleased to call it. Even 
my own family became impregnated with this idea, 
and rather pitied than blamed me for being deluded 
with this consummate fraud of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. I overheard my children, when talking of 
me, whom thej^ loved with all the ardor of devoted 
hearts, say, "Poor father, how I pity him ! He is 
evidently in dotage, and no wonder ; for he has 
passed through enough to crush a stronger spirit 
than he possesses." Thus the little dears would 
talk for hours. One time I heard darling Helen (the 
eldest) say, " When father proposes any thing, we 
mustn't cross him, but pretend to fall in with his 
ideas ; and maybe he will see his error, and give up 
this awful idea of Spiritualism, and become once 
more in his right mind." Oh, for their dear sakes 
how gladly I would have given up all thoughts of 
what gave them so much misery ! But I was not my 
own keeper. I had a destiny to fulfil, and could no 
more get out of the groove I was destined to run in, 
than could the planets by a freak of fancy get out 
of their determined orbits : so it will be seen that I 
was nearly as much alone, even in my own family, as 



AT HOME ON A VISIT. 311 

though I had been the only sentient being in exist- 
ence. My most earnest desire was, to get away from 
all acquaintances, and be by myself ; for, amid all my 
vicissitudes, I never lost a particle of faith in what 
had been my solace and chief friend and support for 
many years. Everybody was prolific with advice as 
to what was best for me to do, some recommending 
one thing, some another ; all of which I refused to 
comply with. My wife's mother, dear good soul, 
wanted me to be placed under the guardianship of 
her son Ephraim, which met the entire approbation 
of all, with the exception of my children, who pro- 
tested against such a course for the reason, that, as 
I was partially demented already, to restrain my 
liberty in the slightest degree would complete the 
wreck of him who once was an honor to society, and 
one of the most successful business men in the 
vicinity. This was 'talked over and over among 
themselves. I knew what the older ones were 
driving at, as well as they did, and was prepared to 
meet it if it was ever proposed; hardly thinking, 
however, that with the protest of my children, 
coupled with a dread of how I might receive it, they 
would ever dare to make the proposition. At last, 
as I was talking about going away, they determined 
to make the effort ; and, as my wife refused to do it, 
her mother took the responsibility upon herself to 
tell me of my incompetency to get a living, which 
she did in the easiest and most plausible way she 
could think of. She began by saying that my 
constant failures had wrought so hard on my brain, 
that it was the unanimous advice of my friends, that, 



312 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

under the consideration that I had a growing family, 
it was best for me to put myself under the guardian- 
ship of some one ; and suggested her son Ephraim, 
high-minded and strictly honorable in all his deal- 
ings, and for whom I always entertained the most 
profound respect, as the most efficient to assume such 
a responsibility ; continuing, " Ephraim will get you 
a chance to work, take your earnings, and pay it over 
to your family." Of course, knowing all about their 
little scheme, and not blaming them for it either, I 
received it with little concern. Seeing she hesitated 
what next to say, I relieved her by asking if she 
had got through. She answered, " Yes" It appears 
that she had, and was only waiting for a response 
from me, which I was not long in making ; simply 
thanking her and her associates for their great 
solicitude in my behalf, and saying that I fully 
appreciated their thoughtfulness and great foresight. 
I respectfully declined to entertain favorably their 
suggestions, stating that as yet I felt fully compe- 
tent to navigate the tempest-tossed bark a little 
longer. Thus the hopes that inspired their whisper- 
ings and calculations for some time past were dashed 
to the ground, and I left at liberty to roam at my 
pleasure. Writing this puts me in mind of a similar 
proposition coming from a prominent Spiritualist in 
Boston. Through this man I had secured a chance 
to work for the Government in the Charlestown 
Navy Yard. After I had got to work, or just before, 
being in his office one evening, he made the astound- 
ing revelation that I was incompetent to take care 
of my hard earnings, or words to that effect, and 



AT HOME ON A VISIT. 313 

wound up by asking me, without any circumlocution, 
to appoint him my guardian. I was as much unpre- 
pared to hear this from him as one would be to hear 
heavy thunder from a clear sky. For a moment I 
was paralyzed ; but, after seeing he was not joking, a 
strong impulse moved me to give him a thrashing on 
the instant, which I always feel amply capable of 
giving to any one when under the influence that was 
upon me then; but I resisted, and merely said, 
trembling with rage, I had all the guardians I 
wanted, and walked out of the room. I heard him 
say, " If jou have, they don't allow you enough to 
eat." 

If I had remained there five minutes longer, I 
should have had to answer tc a charge of assault and 
battery*in the courts. I had all I could do „to keep 
from knocking him down in his own office. What 
in part created such- a commotion in my mind was, 
that I had previously had every reason to think that 
in a business point of view he looked upon me with 
favor ; that is to say, he believed that, if I had a 
fair chance, I could compete favorably with most 
successful business men. After looking the matter 
all over, and considering he had befriended me in 
many emergencies, in fact had long been among the 
best friends I ever had, the commotion passed away ; 
and I thought no more about it. 

As before stated, I had determined to go away some- 
where ; where, I didn't care, as long as I was out of 
the sight of my friends. The difficulty was to pro- 
cure means to get away with. I knew of none who 
would trust me with even a few dollars, excepting it 

27 






314 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

might be my youngest brother, who I thought felt 
more sympathy with me than any one else. The rest 
of my brothers who were all well off, and some of 
whom belonged to the Quaker Church, and all be- 
lieved in its religious tenets, I didn't ask to aid me, 
as I knew what the result would be. Finally I went 
to him, and. told him what I wanted. After hesitat- 
ing a moment or two, he coldly and roughly said, " Go 
to cutting wood at seventy-five cents a cord, as I do, 
and get the money." I was so disappointed at what 
he said, and the way it was said, that I was speechless, 
and turned away without uttering a single word, and 
have never seen him since. But I didn't blame him, 
because he was young, and formed his opinion from 
the older ones. After leaving him I didn't know 
where to go for aid ; but while wending my way 
towards home, thinking where next to apply, it was 
whispered into my most sensitive ear, u Try Isaac 
Clough." This Clough was a cousin of mine, and, 
although he presents a rough exterior, is full of the 
milk of human kindness. I immediately made the 
application as suggested ; and he at once told me he 
hadn't it by him, but would get it, and, as he was 
going past my home that evening, would call and give 
it to me. True to his word, he left the money ; and 
before any other one was astir in the house or neigh- 
borhood, by daylight the next morning I silently stole 
out of the village, and on my tiptoes when passing a 
house, for fear of making a noise, and attracting some 
one's attention, if I walked with a strong, firm, heavy 
step. I felt so lonely, and so disgusted with the treat- 
ment I had to endure while a sojourner in the place, 



EXPERIENCES IN NEW YOEK. 315 

that I didn't want any one to ever see me again, or 
know when or how I got away. After I had got clear 
of the little village, and when on the crest of a hill 
some miles away, I felt what it was to enjoy freedom 
more than ever before; and mechanically turning 
round to take a last look at the place (for I never 
meant to see it again, and I never have), I saw my 
three girls on the top of another little hill near the 
village, beckoning me either to stop or to bid them 
adieu. Not knowing when I left the house, and 
finding me gone when they got up, they put on their 
clothes, and started after me ; but I was too far away, 
and I proceeded on towards the metropolis of the 
State, and by nine o'clock reached Augusta, where I 
could take the cars for somewhere. 

I concluded finally to go direct to New York, and 
see what would turn up. By due course I arrived 
there, flat broke, to use a slang phrase. Put up at 
the Washington House at the foot of Broadway, 
where I boarded three or four weeks ; then took 
rooms of Dr. Hayden, corner of Sixth Avenue and 
Fourteenth Street. Here I remained some six months, 
having a good business as a healer. After that, I 
hired a whole house at 1244 Broadway, and let un- 
furnished rooms for enough to four times pay all the 
rent, and have what room I needed besides. Here 
also I did a flourishing business until I got sick ; after 
which I left every thing, and went to Baltimore to re- 
cuperate my health, and to work a patent gas regula- 
tor ; and here I remained all winter, boarding at the 
Sherwood House. Here I tried to dispose of my pa- 
tent, but got barely enough out of it to pay expenses. 



316 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The following spring, went to Cincinnati to try it 
there, but failed to get it introduced on account of the 
gas company, a powerful private organization, consid- 
ered among the wealthiest in the country. They put 
on an injunction against its use, under the penalty 
of cutting off the gas from those who had the temer- 
ity of allowing me to put my appliance on their me- 
ters. I was advised to try the law, but refrained, 
trusting to the advice of my guides, who told me in 
plain, unmistakable language, that if I attempted it. 
I would only " get my labor for my pains." This 
seemed more reasonable and sensible than any other 
friend's advice ; and I accepted the suggestion of my 
spirit friends as the easiest way out of a bad scrape. 
I received about five hundred dollars over and above 
my expenses, and gave the business up altogether. 

After settling up my affairs at the latter place, 
started for St. Louis, Mo., arriving there on Christ- 
mas Eve; here I remained all winter, doing barely 
enough to pay expenses. The following April went 
to Carondelet, a small town some seven miles on 
the river above St. Louis, where I got work in a ship, 
or rather boat yard. Here I worked until late in the 
fall, when the rebel Gen. Smith with an army of 
forty thousand men encamped some seven miles 
above, threatening to sack the place. I got away on 
Saturday ; and on Sunday a squad of cavalry came 
dashing into the town, and carried off every service- 
able thing they could lay their hands upon, driving 
off cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry, but did no other 
injury. I got on a steamer, and went to Paducah, 
Ky., where was a government railway for taking up 



FLEE TO METROPOLIS CITY. 317 

government vessels to repair. Here I worked some 
six weeks, when one afternoon Gen. Forrest came 
dashing into town with fourteen thousand cavalry, 
and, there being nothing to resist him, took possession 
of the place, and held it until the news reached 
Mound City, where was a navy-yard, and where 
several gunboats were moored ready to go to any 
point where their services were needed. After he 
had held the place a couple of days, a fleet of gun- 
boats came to the relief of the besieged town, and 
drove him off. The boats reached their several posi- 
tions in the darkness of the second night after the 
rebel army took possession, and at once opened upon 
the town from all their batteries ; and before daylight 
the rebel foragers were in full retreat. The first thing 
the rebels did, after entering the town, was to cut all 
the telegraph-wires, and burn two government boats 
then on the railway. They did not interfere with 
any private property, but carried off any quantity of 
commissary supplies. After the melee was over, I 
went to Mound City, and got a job in the navy-yard, 
where I worked all winter. The spring following I 
went to Cincinnati, thinking I could get business 
there ; but I was sick for a considerable time, and 
when I got better could get nothing to do. Finding 
my money was slowly oozing out of my purse, took 
passage on a boat, and went to Paducah again, where 
I expected to get work ; but nothing was being done 
there ; and after remaining idle some three months I 
went to Metropolis, a small town twelve miles below 
Paducah, situated on the Ohio River, on the Illinois 
side. Here I got a job that lasted fourteen days, 

27* 



318 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

when I was again out of work, with my money all 
but gone. After remaining idle some three weeks, it 
dwindled down to one dollar; and I owed three dol- 
lars for board, which the landlady dunned me for one 
morning at breakfast time. I told her I couldn't pay 
her then, but as soon as I got work I would ; and, as 
I was looking for a job all the time, I thought I 
should succeed. My companion in all my joys and 
sorrows was with me, and she was trying to get a 
chance to do housework to save her board ; failing 
to do that, we determined to take a couple of cheap 
rooms, as we had some furniture at Paducah, and 
keep house ; and if we failed to get any thing to eat 
it was nobody's business. When I went down town 
that morning I had but one dollar, and after pur- 
chasing some tobacco I had just eighty-five cents 
left. We found a couple of rooms for seven dollars 
a month ; and it was settled that Jennie should go to 
Paducah, and get what effects we had, and trust to 
luck about getting money to pay the freight, and we 
would go to housekeeping. I was to go up river some 
two miles, where a man was building two or three 
boats, and try and get a job. She went to Paducah, 
and, by selling a clock and a couple of bedsteads, 
managed to pay up the rent due, and get the things 
on board a boat, to be left at Metropolis on its way 
down river. 

In detailing the following exceptional business 
operation, I shall avoid adding any thing to make it 
look more wonderful and novel than it really was, 
because simple unvarnished truth will show to a most 
remarkable extent the capability of spirits who when 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 319 

here were active business men, to plan and carry out 
large business operations to a successful issue through 
properly developed business men called mediums, who 
are still in the body, — schemes which to the normal 
business man, unacquainted with the help furnished 
from unseen sources, would be considered the products 
of a muddled brain, and who would treat them with the 
same indifference that they would the wild rantings 
of a monomaniac ; and, if induced to notice them at 
all, would give vent to unqualified ridicule ; and yet 
these things have been done over and over again in 
my own experience, as has been seen in the foregoing 
pages. Before going into the details of the opera- 
tion hinted at, I wish to say, that, seeing the proba- 
bility of its truthfulness being questioned, I have 
heretofore been very chary of telling it to any others 
than those acquainted with my history ; and were it 
not that an object of this book is to show that our 
spirit-friends can foresee coming events, and guide 
and impress us often into paths that lead, if not to 
opulence, at least to bettering our pecuniary condi- 
tion as well as the spiritual part of our nature, I 
should not record this, nor some others of a similar 
character contained in the foregoing pages. As pro- 
posed, after seeing my companion on board a boat 
bound for Paducah, where she was going to get what 
few household goods we had, I proceeded up river 
some mile or so, to try and get a job on some boats 
being built for parties in St. Louis. Questioning 
some of the workmen before encountering the fore- 
man, they told me that they thought it extremely 
doubtful about my getting work, as they were over- 



320 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

crowded with men already, and thought that next 
pay-day, which occurred the following Saturday, 
some of them would get their discharge. I soon saw 
Mr. Cutting coming towards where I was standing ; 
and at once I asked if he could give me work, telling 
him that I was a first-class ship-builder, having con- 
structed many under my own supervision. He said 
he was sorry he couldn't set me to work. " To tell 
the truth," said he, " I have more now than I know 
what to do with ; in fact, I am thinking of dischar- 
ging some Saturday." From what I knew from my 
own exertions in trying to get work, coupled with' 
what the men told me, I anticipated such an answer. 
I then tried to enlist his sympathy in my favor, by 
telling him exactly how I was situated, hoping that 
somehow or other he might think of a way to employ 
me, if only for a few days ; but all to no purpose. 
Seeing from my despairing look that I was very much 
discouraged, he finally told me that I might come on 
Monday, and he would try and give me a few days' 
work to help me along. This was Wednesday ; and 
as he only paid off every two weeks, my not begin- 
ning until Monday, it would be nearly three weeks 
before I could get any money ; and, unless I could 
borrow some, I should famish for lack of something 
to eat. I thought of this, and asked him if, after I 
had worked a few days, couldn't he let me have some 
money to live upon. He said it would be impossible 
to do so, for reasons he did not care to explain. Find- 
ing that was the best I could do, I told him I would 
come on if I couldn't do any better, and turned away 
to retrace my steps down river. In all severely trying 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 321 

emergencies like these, when every avenue of escape 
from a perilous position was closed against me, I have 
been in the habit of questioning myself substantially 
as follows : " Now, David, can you reconcile this sad 
condition as being in harmony with a divine object? " 
and never failed of hearing an affirmative response 
welling up from the deepest recesses of my soul. In 
this case, after leaving Mr. Cutting, I walked slowly 
down the bank of the river, pondering over these 
things, until I came to where I had to cross a creek, 
over which was thrown a light pontoon bridge to 
save going round the head of the creek when the 
river was high, as it was then ; and I distinctly re- 
member asking the above question of myself while 
going down the bank to the bridge ; and my soul then 
and there responded " Amen" 

I felt pleased to experience that this response could 
come with the same gush and spontaneity, now that 
I was passing through one of the severest trials of 
my life, as when the same question was answered 
affirmatively while passing through much less sadness 
than I was then experiencing. After the' response 
came, I felt happy that I really cherished a philos- 
ophy that could withstand the severest attacks of 
poverty and its concomitants. I went on to the 
bridge feeling as light as a feather, and walked quite 
rapidly, congratulating myself upon the possession of 
something that never fails to give strength and peace 
when passing through the severest vicissitudes of life. 
I have no words that can express the ecstasy of my 
soul in that happy moment, — happy, though destitu- 
tion and starvation were staring me in the face. I 



322 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

had got about midway of the creek, and, while pon- 
dering over the above things, all at once I heard a 
voice say, in clear, distinct tones, " Bnild a steam- 
boat." I knew it was a spirit, and thought its tone 
familiar, but could not think it came from one of those 
who had so often come to my rescue in trying times, 
and at once decided it must be some wild, rollicking, 
mischievous spirit, aping those in whom I trusted, in- 
tending to get me into a scrape, and then laugh at my 
credulity. At times more will pass through the 
mind in a moment than could be given expression to 
in an hour ; at least, this is the case with me. The 
moment I heard the voice, I almost came to a stand- 
still, thinking what it could mean. At a glance, being 
an adept in the business, that is, in the building of a 
boat or vessel, I felt that it takes many thousands of 
dollars to begin with ; and I had but eighty-five cents, 
and no way to get a penny more. Being almost a 
total stranger in the place, I had no one I could 
count upon for any accommodation whatever ; and 
I finally concluded that the voice came from those 
who delight in deceiving mortals. Then I started 
up faster, and after taking a few steps heard the 
same words repeated. This time there was no mis- 
taking the peculiar sound of an unseen friend; and I 
passed rapidly on, and headed directly for a sawmill 
I had often seen before, where they sawed plank and 
timber for boat-building, and had, as I afterwards 
learned, been working for the Government. From 
the workmen I learned that Mr. Kimball the propri- 
etor was up in the mill. Ascending a stationary lad- 
der at the end of the structure, I saw the one who I 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 323 

supposed was the proprietor, doing something to a 
large circular saw ; waiting until he got through, I 
approached, and ascertained upon inquiry that Mr. 
Kimball stood before me. To do justice to myself, I 
will say, that, from the instant I heard the voice the 
second time, I had but one object or thought; and 
that was, to see Mr. Kimball. What for, I had no 
definite idea. I seemed overshadowed by some power 
that completely controlled not only my physical loco- 
motion, but the mental faculties as well. As far as I 
w^as concerned personally, I didn't seem to have one 
single object in view, and was conscious only of an 
indescribable desire to see Mr. Kimball. What fol- 
lowed was purely mechanical on my part ; that is to 
say, I didn't know what was going to be said until 
I heard myself say it, precisely as if I heard it from 
another party. 

To resume : after the first salutation, I heard my- 
self say, without announcing my name, that as I was 
here and out of business, if I could find any one who 
would furnish all the wood material for a boat, and 
wait for pay until a boat could be built and sold, I 
would build one ; continuing, " I have some funds, and 
fifteen hundred dollars by me." If I had said " some 
money," without stipulating the amount, I shouldn't 
have felt so bad; but, as it was, I felt wretched; and 
all the way I could excuse the falsehood was in think- 
ing, that as I was an adept in the business, and by 
attending strictly to carrying out all the details of 
construction, I could build a boat fifteen hundred dol- 
lars cheaper than almost any one else ; and, although 
this excuse served somewhat to break off the jagged 



324 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

corners of the falsehood, yet I did not feel easy, be- 
cause I was arrogating to myself qualities that might 
not exist. If, after thus misrepresenting my ability 
to carry on the work, I should lack pecuniary means, 
the result must be immediate and disgraceful failure. 
After I had got through with my proposition, he 
looked me up and down, and then in a drawling sort 
of way asked me, " Ain't. you a Yankee ? " Upon my 
answering in the affirmative, he said, " I thought so." 
Relative to my proposition he said, I "have been saw- 
ing for the Government; and, not expecting the war 
would end for years, I stocked so extensively that I 
have a great many logs on hand ; and now that the 
war is over, and business all unsettled, I don't know 
what to do with them ; however, I will talk with Mr. 
Lukins [his clerk], who knows more about business 
than I do, and let you know." — " Well," said I, "I 
want to know immediately ; " which, however, in busi- 
ness parlance, considering the magnitude of the opera- 
tion, might be a week or ten days, more or less, for it 
couldn't be expected that any one would enter into 
an enterprise of that magnitude, involving so much 
time and material, without giving it due considera- 
tion. In the mean time I would get off somewhere 
else ; for I made up my mind, while listening to him, 
that if possible I would never see him again ; though, 
if I did chance to meet him, it would be the easiest 
thing in the world to frame an excuse for not enter- 
taining any proposition from him favorably. Even to 
think about building a boat under such circumstances 
never entered my own mind ; for my knowledge in 
ship-building precluded the possibility of such a 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 325 

scheme ending but in disgrace and an ignominious 
failure: Knowledge that my lips had been telling 
this man a mess of unmitigated falsehoods about the 
matter made me feel so bad and chagrined, that all 
I wanted was to get out of his sight ; forgetting that 
he knew nothing about the truth or falsity of what 
was said. I wanted to go as soon as possible, and, 
after hearing what he had to say, did start promptly to 
get out of his sight. To facilitate that object, instead 
of going down the ladder by which I gained an en- 
trance to the mill, I slid down over a pile of slabs 
directly in front of the mill. Due south from the 
mill, was another small one, whichwas used to saw 
up stuff for wagons, &c, with circular saws ; I thought 
I would keep the latter building between me and the 
big mill, so that he would not see me again ; but, after 
going some distance, found I couldn't go where I 
wanted to, unless I crossed his millyard, which would 
bring me into his view again. This I much wished 
to avoid, and had thought, that, by keeping close 
to a high board fence which skirted the southern 
extremity of his yard, I might possibly elude his 
eyes, and get clear unobserved ; but when nearing 
the street, where I should be hid from view by inter- 
vening houses, I heard some one halloo. Instinc- 
tively knowing it was the man I wished never to see 
again, I paid no heed to it, but kept on my way ; 
directly I heard two voices hallooing, and" turning 
my head, trembling from head to foot, saw Mr. Kim- 
ball and another man beckoning me to them. I reluc- 
tantly and slowly walked towards them, planning 
what I would say to get out of a difficulty that I so 

28 



326 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

much dreaded. Upon arriving at their office, before 
which they were standing, Mr. Kimball inquired my 
name, and then introduced me to Mr. Lukins. After 
that ceremony was over, he addressed me as follows : 
" I have been talking to Mr. Lukins about your 
proposition, and we have concluded that a boat was 
never built without being sold ; and as we have a 
large quantity of logs on hand, and no market for 
lumber, we have concluded to accept your proposal : 
we had rather have our lumber in a boat than rotting 
on the banks of the river." Here was a crisis : things 
were culminating rather more rapidly than I dreamed 
of ; something must be done to stop further progress, 
else the first thing I should know would be that I 
couldn't get out of the scrape. So I said this building 
a boat was merely a passing thought to which I had 
not given much reflection, and I should prefer not 
to talk about a matter of such a moment until I had 
weighed well the consequences, and obtained at 
least the acquiescence of my better judgment before 
making the first binding move in that direction. In 
answer to this he said, " The war is over, and there is 
great scarcity of boats of the freighting class, appar- 
ent to the most superficial observer ; and there exists 
not a doubt, if you should build one of that class, it 
would immediately find a purchaser." I then told 
him that when I made the proposition to him I didn't 
take intti account, that I was deficient in yard-tools ; 
and, besides, I had no yard to build a boat in. In 
response to this he said he would supply me with 
yard-tools ; and, as to the latter, he owned the whole 
bank of the river far above and below his mill, and 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 327 

I might have room to build twenty boats, and he 
wouldn't charge me a cent for ground-rent ; continu- 
ing, " And, besides, you may have the use of the little 
mill for sawing out such parts of the frame as it is 
possible to do ; and," said he, " that will save you a 
great deal of hard work, and I won't charge you any 
thing for the privilege." Certainly here was a great 
inducement ; but my capital, only eighty-five cents, 
dwindled into insignificance as means to build a boat 
with, and I looked about me for something else by 
which I could stop the thing altogether ; for to say 
the least, the situation was getting critical at this 
juncture of the negotiations. 

I remember of thinking, if I should get wheedled 
into actually beginning an operation which my 
better judgment told me must inevitably "end in 
humiliating and disastrous failure, what an awful 
thing it would be ; and I trembled with regret that I 
hadn't broken off the conversation in regard to it 
before. It must be borne in mind by the patient 
reader, that I not only didn't want to commence the 
construction of a boat, but was doing all in my 
power to keep out of it ; and, although I knew it 
was the work of spirits, I couldn't class them with 
intelligent, prudent business ones, when I compared 
my means in hand with what was actually necessary 
to even begin building, to say nothing of the finish- 
ing. Asking pardon for this digression, we will come 
back to the business. I told him that I couldn't 
find fault with his generous offer ; but there had 
been nothing said about the price of lumber. " Oh ! " 
said he, "that is twenty-five dollars per thousand, 



328 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

delivered." Knowing that was the customary price, 
I didn't want to compromise my business qualities 
by objecting to it; and so I said the price certainly 
was not objectionable, but, if one should agree to 
pay only ten dollars a thousand, the survey might 
bring it up to thirty or forty dollars. " Very 
true," said he : " Mr. Xukins, take the tape-line, and 
show the gentleman our manner of surveying lum- 
ber." Of course that could be no such test as would 
induce me to go on with the operation ; for they 
would naturally hold out the best inducement to 
further their own object. While absent from the 
office assisting Mr. Lukins to show what good meas- 
ure they'd give me if I would give them the oppor- 
tunity, and while thinking what other argument I 
could produce against closing a bargain, the thought 
passed through my brain like a flash of lightning, 
that it was my friends who had so often befriended 
me in years gone by, that got up this enterprise, and 
could carry it to a successful issue if I would but 
trust them. Instantly running over the past, and 
seeing that every business transaction of my life in 
which they started me nearly paralleled this in 
singularity, I felt ashamed at my obstinacy ; and on 
my return told Mr. Kimball that I had made up my 
mind to go into the enterprise, and that we would 
make out the necessary writings, and execute them 
at once. I sat down, and drew up the agreement in 
accordance with my proposition; and by half-past 
eleven, A.m., each had a document duly signed, .also 
witnessed by Mr. Lukins, and I was fairly embarked 
in an enterprise, the bare thought of which, one 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 329 

hour before, sent cold chills coursing through the 
system, creating a sickening nausea at the stomach 
and an indescribable weakening in my limbs. After 
I became imbued with the fact that it was really my 
spirit-friends who had navigated me through so many 
similar business transactions, that were managing 
matters now, I never once thought of my poverty; 
and only one idea filled my mind, which was, to get 
the preliminary part — the contract — through with 
as soon as possible. As soon as that was over, I 
wanted to be alone, and to cogitate upon how I 
should begin. As I turned to go away,. I saw the 
man I had worked for, going down town. Instantly 
the thought flashed through my mind, that possibly 
he had the moulds of a boat that I could hire. With 
this uppermost in my mind, I pushed after him, and 
soon overtaking him said, that as I couldn't get any 
thing to do I had concluded to build a boat on my 
own account, and asked him if he had the moulds of 
a model he had in his office. He said he had. I 
then told him that I didn't want to wait to send to 
St. Louis for materials to make them, and asked if 
he would loan them to me to mould a frame ; and, if 
so, what would be his price ? He said he would, and 
charge me fifty dollars for their use. Then he called 
his son, w^ho was near, and told him to hand down 
from the mould-loft such a set of moulds, naming 
them. Upon examination I found every one intact, 
bevel-boards and all. I inwardly felt jubilant at 
what seemed most opportune ; for saying nothing 
about my inability even to pay the freight on the 
materials, independent of paying for the purchase of 

28* 



330 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

them, which I should be obliged to do, his demand 
was a hundred dollars less than I could have got 
them up for myself, providing I had the materials on 
hand. Now, then, every want for beginning the 
enterprise was provided for ; and as I had not a doubt 
but that the authors, or getters-up, of the undertak- 
ing would furnish the means in some way to carry it 
to completion, I entertained no fears for its terminat- 
ing successfully. 

I ought to say here, that moulds must be made of 
seasoned pine boards ; and, as there were none such 
in this immediate section, there existed necessity of 
sending to either St. Louis or Chicago for it. 

By this time it was noon ; and, after getting my 
dinner, I told the landlady that I should change my 
boarding-house, also that I had made arrangements 
to build a boat ; this I said more to make her feel 
easy about her bill than for any thing else. I got an 
old pass-book, partly blank, in which I could keep an 
account of what lumber I might use. Finding Mr. 
Lukins, we went to work surveying such as I wanted, 
each keeping the amount separately ; ■ and, when I 
finally settled with Mr. Kiniball, we differed only 
two hundred and thirty-seven feet, an amount not 
worth more than six or seven dollars. I then went 
to moulding out the frame; and towards night a 
young man passing on the street, seeing me at work, 
applied for a job. Upon inquiry I found he was a 
green hand ; that he never worked at carpentering a 
day in his life. At first, after I had got into it, I 
thought I would work along alone for a while, till 
some way opened by which I could get money to pay 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 331 

off with. But, finding I couldn't cant over the 
heavy timbers alone, I hired this young man for a 
dollar and fifty cents per day for a while, with the 
promise that if he suited me I would keep him on ; 
and upon my telling him to be on hand at seven the 
next morning, he left congratulating himself upon 
his good luck. 

About the time to quit work, seeing a boat haul 
into the wharf, I went down to it, and found Jennie, 
my companion, with our household goods, and a 
freight bill of three dollars to pay. Seeing one of 
the men who worked for the man I had been working 
for, who seemed quite friendly, I borrowed money 
enough of him to pay the freight and get the things 
to our rooms. I said nothing to her about my day's 
operation until we got the scanty furniture into our 
rooms. When I told her I was going to build a 
steamboat, she looked at me with a strange stare, 
thinking of course I was crazy ; and well she might. 
I assured her that it was -a fact, and to prove it 
showed her the agreement. She then said, " What 
are you going to do for money ? " I said I didn't 
know; that my spirit-friends got* up the enterprise, 
and I expected them to open a way by which I could 
get it ; and then told her how it was brought about, 
also how hard I had worked to keep out of it. She 
had no faith, nor even belief, that spirits existed at 
all, much less that they came back here and con- 
structed steamboats ; but she had faith in me until 
this came up. However, I assured her that it would 
come out all right. During nearly two weeks after 
we got into our new abode, we had nothing to eat 



332 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

but dry white stewed beans ; not a particle of bread, 
meat, butter, or grease of any kind, or tea, coffee, 
sugar, or molasses ; and? the beans she got from a 
farmer for whose boys she had made some clothing. 
We hired two rooms, up one flight, from a brother 
of Mr. Kimball's clerk. It was deemed necessary 
to keep our condition to ourselves, especially as 
I had commenced the construction of a large boat. 
If our circumstances had been known, the knowl- 
edge would d — n the enterprise in the bud. To 
keep them secret, one of us ate at a time, while 
the other watched to see if any one was coming up 
stairs ; and if any one was heard on the stairs by 
either, when the other was eating beans, obedient to 
a signal agreed upon between us, the bean-eater was 
to go into the adjoining room, and close the door. 
We happened to have a cup full of salt, which she 
brought from Paducah, to season the beans ; and, 
though we had a pretty rough time of it, the subter- 
fuges we used to prevent folks from finding out our 
real situation were cause of many a merry laugh. 
The bare thought that I was building, or had com- 
menced building, a % large steamboat, with not money 
enough to buy a loaf of bread, was so supremely 
ridiculous, that when either of us thought of it, 
when alone, we could not help breaking out into 
hearty laughter. As good luck would have it, the 
other family were very quiet ; and we, being unknown, 
were not annoyed by visitors. The next morning 
found me, at seven, in the yard with my new hand 
ready to do anj^ thing. Finding that another man 
would greatly facilitate matters, and a brother of 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 333 

the one I had set to work coming along about eight 
o'clock, and wanting a job, I set him to work at the 
same wages with the other, so that now my expenses 
were three dollars per day, which by Saturday 
would amount to nine dollars for both ; and I 
thought, if the money did not come, so that I 
could pay them off, I would take advantage of the 
custom of the place, and pay only every two weeks ; 
and I felt sure by that time something would turn 
up in my favor. Saturday came, but no money ; 
and I felt sorry for the boys, because they needed it. 
I kept telling my trusting companion, that it would 
come in good time ; and upon my entering the house 
she asked me about it. She felt very much dis- 
couraged, but I managed to keep up good cheer. I 
was not quite sure, seeing that I was a stranger, 
whether they would come on Monday or not. When 
I went into the yard Monday morning, I found them 
waiting my arrival; and I soon set them at work, 
thus commencing what proved a most anxious week 
in my eventful life ; for, if at its close I did not get 
means to go on with the job, the whole thing would 
end a total failure. I remember saying this to my- 
self while going home Saturday night. I not feeling 
very well, and having to work hard, it was agreed 
after this, that to give me a chance to rest at noon 
Jennie should bring to me my dinner of beans ; and, 
to keep folks from knowing what I had to eat, we 
used to get into some out-of-the-way place, to par- 
take of the slender repast. Thus it went on through 
the week until Friday noon, when owing to some 
indisposition of my patient, trusting companion, I 



334 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

went home for my dinner, which consisted of the 
same bill of fare ; and just as I got opposite to our 
house, I met a man whom I had seen, and who I 
learned was the wealthiest man in the place, but I 
had forgotten his name. I was induced to stop him, 
and ask him for a loan of some money to pay off my 
men on the morrow ; telling him I was building a 
boat, and had been disappointed in getting my 
money, — as much as to say that I had some some- 
where ; and so I had, but the Lord only knew where 
it was deposited. He replied by saying that he 
" hadn't a cent ; " but it wasn't so much what he said, 
as how he said it, that gave me to understand that he 
wouldn't let me have any if he had any amount. 
Jennie happened to be looking out of the window 
while I was speaking to him, and upon my entrance 
asked me who I was talking to. I told her I didn't 
know his name, but had learned that he was a 
wealthy man, and thought that maybe he would loan 
me some money to pay off w^ith to-morrow. She 
expressed much surprise at my audacity, and wanted 
to know what he would think at 'being approached 
so unceremoniously by a stranger asking of him a 
loan of money. I told her I didn't know ; and ate 
my repast almost in silence. Friday night came ; but 
not a ray of light penetrated the dark cloud growing 
more sombre and dense every moment, and seeming 
to be slowly settling down nearer and more near, 
threatening to ingulf me in its murky embrace. 
Although I felt a sweet calm pervading my inner 
being like the eternal stillness of the deep ocean, yet 
like its surface my mind was ruffled and in agonj- ; 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 335 

not so much that I doubted for one single moment 
that all was right, and that that trial would bring 
this, like every thing else, out all right. If the 
enterprise ended in total failure, it would be so only 
in seeming; some permanent good would be the 
result, whichever way the tide of affairs might turn- 
Saturday morning's light came, and with it a renewal 
of my anxieties ; for none but the invisible beings of 
the Summer Land knew how matters would end with 
me. On leaving the house I told Jennie that I 
didn't care for dinner, that she needn't fetch it, and 
I should be too tired to come for it ; and left her in 
tears. By this time folks had begun to talk about 
me ; in fact, since the middle of the week, my ear 
attuned to the utterances of the voice, I could hear 
them say, " He's a fraud, he's got no money, he'll 
never pay them poor fellows," &c. It seemed as 
though I could hear a whisper at any distance ; and 
such talkers were right. I was a fraud and deceiver, 
and, according to the established business code, I was 
a scoundrel in cutting up so much timber upon the 
strength of what the business world would call an 
unmitigated deception. 

I went to work with a will, the better to tone down 
my highly wrought up nerves ; but at noon I saw 
my anxious partner approaching with the well-known 
tin pail. I had got the keel on the blocks, ready for 
the frames; and we selected a place near the water, 
out of sight of my two workmen, to eat my dinner ; 
and I can say I never enjoyed a better meal in my 
life. There was a flavor and sweetness to the beans 
that I never noticed before. The afternoon passed off 



336 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

with not a sign of relief from any quarter. I looked 
up, as though expecting to see a rift in the blackness 
that surrounded me. At last knocking-off time ar- 
rived, when the boys put up their tools, and waited 
for me to come and pay them. I didn't know what 
excuse to make, and kept on at my work at the lower 
end of the keel, as though I wanted to finish some 
particular thing before I left ; but really I was wait- 
ing for them to leave, before I should come up the 
bank. They showed no signs of leaving. I kept on 
steady at my work, while the poor fellows waited ; 
directly some of their acquaintances came along, and 
discussed with them the probabilities of their getting 
any money " from that d — d fraud," as they called 
me. I heard all of their remarks as clearly and dis- 
tinctly as themselves. After having worked on an 
hour, seeing the crowd increasing, the poor boys in 
the" centre with downcast faces, and both hands in 
their pockets, pictures of despair, — all at once, with- 
out a thought, I found myself going rapidly up the 
bank towards the crowd, with not an idea what I 
should say ; but when directly opposite them, slack- 
ing my speed a little, I told them to come to the 
post-office after supper, and I would pay them ; that 
I had neglected to get my money this afternoon; 
still keeping on towards my humble home. Here 
was another muss. If I had passed them without 
speaking, it would have been sensible, compared to 
what I did say. I don't think I was ever so out of 
humor with any thing I said or did, as this foolish 
speech; and I kept scolding myself, all the way home, 
for my stupidity. However, it was done; and. they 



STEAMBOAT BUILDIXG. 337 

would only be the more disappointed by my not 
paying them. When I entered, my looks told too 
plainty that I had failed to pay off. I sat in silence 
and ate my beans, poor Jennie too much absorbed 
in grief to join me. After getting through supper, 
if it could be called one, without a thought as to 
where I was going I seized my hat, and started to go 
out. Jennie asked me where I was going ; and my lips 
said I was going to see that man I spoke to yesterday 
in the road, opposite our house. Then I rushed out 
of doors, leaving my grief-stricken partner in tears, 
and, as she afterwards told me, fearing I would do 
away with myself. 

I made a straight wake for that man's office, having 
previously ascertained its location. It being dark, I 
halted when within three or four rods of "the door, 
which was open, and talked to myself in this wise : 
Now, David, you have many weak points, and among 
them this foolish one : you would almost starve before 
asking a friend for aid, who would be only too glad 
to serve you. Now be a man : go to the rich one, tell 
him your wants, and know your fate at once ; con- 
tinuing, It is no disgrace to try and raise money in 
a legitimate way, &c. Thus I talked to myself for fif- 
teen minutes or so. At last, thinking I had screwed 
up sufficient courage, I started for the door ; but, 
when within ten feet of it or so, I began to feel weak 
in my limbs, and hesitated, waited a moment, then 
retreated to where I had been talking to myself, in 
order to get a fresh instalment of courage. After 
recruiting with a fresh lot, started again ; this time, 
when I began to lose strength, I had got so far 

29 



338 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

that those inside could see me, and, not daring to 
risk my tongue when I felt so weak, I passed by the 
door altogether, and circled round until I got in my 
old place, a little chagrined at my timidity, if not 
actual cowardice. I waited a few minutes, and with- 
out saying a word, or promising myself any thing, I 
quietly walked up to the open door, and, catching 
Mr. McBane's eye (that was the rich man's name), 
beckoned him out. He came at my beck ; and, taking 
him two or three rods from his office, I told him that 
I was the man that asked him the day before for 
some money to pay off my help with ; and that, as he 
then refused me, he might think it strange that I 
should make a second application. After hearing 
what I had to say, he told me that his mother re- 
ceived three hundred dollars that afternoon, and, if 
she hadn't loaned it, he could get what I needed for 
me (I had previously told him I wanted to get fifty 
dollars) ; and he started upon the run for the house. 
In a moment or so I saw him coming out almost upon 
the run ; as he advanced he said, " Mother let Mr. 
Bear [a merchant] have it ; but you go to the post- 
office, and I'll go into Bear's and borrow for you." I 
told him I didn't want to go to the post-office, as I 
had told the boys that I would meet them there, and 
give them their money. " Very well," he says : " go 
along slowly up Main Street, and I will overtake you." 
Upon this he left me, and went into the store; and 
I walked slowly up street. Just as I had passed a 
knot of men, who I knew were talking about me, 
for I heard one of them say in a suppressed manner, 
" There he goes," — just at this moment I heard some 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 339 

one approaching rapidly from behind ; and, when about 
turning my head to see who it was, Mac came to me, 
seeming to look and act as if surprised, and looking 
earnestly in my face said, " Ah, is this you ? " extend- 
ing his hand at the same time, and shaking mine 
vigorously, then added, " I'm glad to see you." While 
shaking my hand he left in it a hard roll which I knew 
was money. Almost instantly he asked if I was going 
up town. " No," I says ; " I believe I'll go to the post- 
office, and then home." Everybody knew Mac, and 
observed his demonstrative action towards me. I 
heard one of the gang say, "If he is a friend of Mac, 
he's all right." This was what I call spirit acting ; 
for invisibles made him do all this to blind the listen- 
ers, and keep them from knowing any thing about my 
business. When going past a store window," I noticed 
that my package was wrapped in brown paper ; I took 
that off, put the roll of bills in my waistcoat pocket, 
and walked rapidly towards the post-office. A more 
self-satisfied man never breathed. Near the post 
office was a store, in which was a telegraph-office ; 
on the counter was a desk facing out, to accommo- 
date for writing messages-; on this desk was a lamp. 
Seeing the two boys surrounded with their sympathiz- 
ing friends, I beckoned them to follow me. Not only 
they, but the whole crowd followed, probably to see 
whether I had just enough to pay them off, or not. 
Going up to the desk referred to, I took out the roll 
of bills, and laid them on the desk. I owed the two 
brothers twenty-seven dollars in all. The first bill on 
the top was twenty dollars, which I passed over to 
the oldest. The next was a ten-dollar bill; this I 



340 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

passed to the store-keeper to get broken so that I 
could make the seven dollars change, which I, passing 
over to Bill, told him they might divide between them. 
Putting the three dollars with the rest, I rolled all up, 
and put it carelessly into my waistcoat pocket, much 
as a man would do when flush with money. As the 
first two bills were of high denominations, those look- 
ing on would naturally suppose that all the roll was 
twenty, ten, and maybe fifty dollars, and that I might 
be rotten with money. The real fact was that each 
bill remaining in the pile was a one. However, the 
display of bills established my credit, as far as paying 
my help - was concerned. After leaving the store I 
made a bee-line for home. Entering in a hurry, 
I threw the package of bills on the table ; and, they 
being old worn bills, they scattered all round, and 
looked to be as many again as there really were. 
When Jennie saw so much money sprawled out on 
the table, and my flushed looks, she thought I had, 
in my extremity, robbed somebody ; and as soon as 
she could gather sufficient strength to speak said, 
" Why, David, what have you been doing ? " I assured 
her that I had done nothing that would bring crimson 
into anybody's cheek ; " but first of all," said I, " let's 
go to market, and get what will furnish us a square 
meal." We took a market or rather a clothes basket, 
and as soon as possible returned heavily laden with 
the best the market afforded, and about twelve o'clock 
sat down to the first regular meal for the past tAvo 
weeks nearly. We never slept a wink until near sun- 
rise, but kept talking over my enterprise commenced 
under such discouraging circumstances, and now 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 341 

bidding fair to end auspiciously. As per agreement, 
about midday I called upon Mac, and told him the 
whole story, — under what auspices the project was 
gotten up, how I tried to keep out of it, and yet 
was finally obliged to take hold, and how we had 
so long eaten not a particle of any thing excepting 
stewed white beans. When I was telling him this 
part of the story, the tears trickled down his cheeks; 
and extending his hand he said, " I will stand by you 
in this thing : tell me Friday how much money you 
want Saturday, and I'll get it for you if I turn hell 
over for it." When he lauded m,e for my unheard-of 
pluck, I told him it was spirits, and not me, when he 
said, " Spirits be d — d ! You are the smartest man in 
Illinois." I have been thus particular because of the 
peculiarity of the operation, and the untoward circum- 
stances it had to pass through before it was fully under 
way. I have tried to depict exactly my feelings and 
anxieties, and the almost superhuman faith I had in 
my spirit-friends being able through me to carry the 
work to completion ; also the utter hopelessness of my 
poor anxious partner, struggling against all hope of 
success just to appear cheerful, hoping by so doing to 
give me courage, when in truth she was slowly dying 
with fears as to the effect a failure would have upon 
my already feeble health ; but I have succeeded 
poorly, for no words in our language can fully (ex- 
press the reality of that week's operation, 

After this I had no difficulty in getting all the 
men I wanted, or money to pay them off with. Mr. 
McBane, true to his voluntary promise, made his 
arrangements to meet my wants so tliat I never 

29* 



342 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

failed of paying off every Saturday night. From 
this time until I had completed the boat, every thing 
went along without the least friction ; and long before 
she was ready to launch I sold her at my own price, 
and, in fact, subsequently got $2,500 more than I 
asked for her in the first place. This needs a little 
explanation. The facts of the sale were these : One 
day a man in St. Louis, seeing my advertisement in 
" The St. Louis Democrat,'' in which was a full de- 
scription of my steamboat's dimensions, and that she 
was for sale, came to Metropolis to look at her, dis- 
posed, if she answered the advertised description, 
and the price was not extravagant, to purchase her. 
He Avas accompanied by two other interested parties ; 
and after looking her all over, and she being just what 
he was looking for, and he knowing that she would 
not remain long unsold, determined to effect a trade 
at once. Upon consulting me as to the price and 
terms, he was told that I wanted eight thousand 
dollars cash. He said that he had only one thousand 
with him ; but if I would give him until the follow- 
ing Tuesday, at six, p.m. (this was Thursday), he 
would give me the one thousand now, and, if he 
didn't come to time, that would pay me for waiting ; 
and, if he did, this one thousand dollars should make 
one of the eight. This I agreed to, and at once 
drew up and executed writings accordingly ; after 
which he immediately left for St. Louis, to see about 
getting up owners to float her. 

This, so far as I was concerned, was a safe opera- 
tion; and I felt quite jubilant over the transaction. 
Soon after he left, a Dutchman came along, and, after 



STEAMBOAT BUILJDIXG. 343 

looking at her, made proposals to purchase. Upon 
learning that she was already sold upon conditions, 
which I explained, he offered me five hundred dollars 
more. I refused ; telling him, if they didn't come to 
hand at the time specified, that he should have her at 
his offer. He said that he didn't dare wait, as the 
probabilities were that the other party would not 
allow her to pass into other hands. With this he left ; 
and I felt pleased with this proof, that, if one party 
failed, another stood by to take her. Thus things 
went on until Saturday, about eight o'clock, when I 
received a telegram from the first party, stating that, 
because of death in the family of one of the principal 
prospective owners, he should be obliged to give up 
the contract, adding particulars by mail. Although 
I had not a doubt but that I could sell her, this 
announcement for a moment almost paralyzed me. 
Recovering a little, I carried the telegram to McBane, 
handing it to him without uttering a word. After 
reading it he looked up, and, seeing my looks indi- 
cated anxiety, said with a pleasant smile, " This is 
nothing to worry about: it will put a thousand 
dollars in your pocket ; " continuing, " You forget for 
the nonce that you are the luckiest d — 1 in all the 
world. Cheer up, man ! I should think you had 
gone safely through too many typhoons to be alarmed 
at this light cat's-paw, which, at its worst, can but 
slightly ruffle the surface of the deep ocean of your 
experience." This re-assured me. The following 
Monday another party came along, to whom I sold 
her for fifteen hundred dollars more than I asked the 
first one, and, with the one thousand dollars already 



344 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

received, made twenty-five hundred dollars more than 
I asked in the first place. The first party was a 
poor man ; and I refunded the one thousand dollars, 
being glad to do so. Thus it will be seen, that, from 
beginning to end, the whole affair was under the 
direct influence of spirits; that is, everybody that 
had any thing important to do with it, as well as my- 
self, was influenced by this unseen band of immor- 
tals, whether the humans knew it or not. 

In writing out my history, I seem to live it all over 
as I go along ; every sensation, whether pleasant or 
its opposite, I feel precisely as when going through 
the experience. I write entirely from memory. I 
put on paper the exact facts, leaving out many of 
minor importance. If there are mistakes, it is not in 
overstating or in painting things to make them more 
sensational than they otherwise would be. Although 
there were many laughable incidents connected with 
the matters described in this chapter, I will allude 
to but a single one. I requested Mr. McBane, after 
having told him how the thing was got up, not to 
mention it to any one. He religiously respected the 
request until I got her almost completed, when one 
day he told me that Mr. Gray and his wife, seeing us 
together so much and often merry, surmised that 
there was something of special interest up between 
us, and they were all the while teasing him to tell 
what it was. This Mr. Gray kept the only hotel in 
the place ; and, as Mac owned it, he spent much of 
his spare time there; and in that house we used to 
talk over our matters by ourselves. These talks and 
our manners were what attracted their attention. 



STEAMBOAT BUILDING. 345 

Mac asked me if he should relieve their curiosity. I 
gave my consent, and appointed that evening to be 
present, and hear him dilate upon my superior execu- 
tive ability. After exacting a promise from our host 
and hostess not to tell, Mac gave a full and brilliant 
account of it all. Being a lawyer, and possessing 
great descriptive faculties, he decked my achieve- 
ments in a most glowing array of adjectives ; and 
when speaking of the first two weeks, and especially 
of our living on nothing but stewed beans, he drew 
tears from their eyes ; and, forgetting for the moment 
that it was myself he was portraying, I could not 
prevent tears running down my own cheeks. In 
describing other scenes in the play, he made things 
appear so extravagantly absurd, that all hands would 
be convulsed in uncontrollable laughter. * From this 
scene leaked out what caused it to be said that I 
built a boat with a pint of beans and a quart of 
hominy. So ends the account of in some respects 
the most remarkable experience of my eventful life, 
and with it this chapter. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PUBLISHING A SPIRITUAL NEWSPAPER CALLED THE 
" VOICE OF ANGELS," EDITED AND MANAGED BY 
SPIRITS — HOW AND BY WHOM IT WAS FIRST 
PROJECTED, AND WHY IT WAS GOTTEN UP. 

When I narrated the incidents in the last chap- 
ter, which occurred some ten years since, I supposed 
that, as I was getting well up in years, nothing more 
of a remarkable nature would transpire worthy of 
recording; and I was about congratulating myself, 
that as I had no one to look out for but myself, and 
that as my business (healing the sick) was bringing 
an income amply sufficient to provide for my few 
wants, that I could slide down the afternoon of life 
with comparative ease, when another phase of things 
occurred, which, taking every thing into account, 
fairly eclipsed all preceding ones, not so much as to 
its get-up, as in its power of being useful in opening 
the eyes of thousands buried in the darkness of the 
past. 

Subsequent to the time I finished the steamboat 
mentioned in the preceding chapter, up to the mid- 
dle of October, 1875, I was engaged in various 
pursuits, — sometimes ship and house building, but 
principally in healing the sick. It was while prac- 

346 



PUBLISHING "VOICE OF ANGELS." 347 

tising the latter profession in Philadelphia in 1870, 
that the enterprise I am about to relate was first 
projected. Many interesting and instructive inci- 
dents transpired in the interim, but the limits of this 
book preclude their appearance in its pages; they, 
however, .will be set forth in another book that I 
am writing, to be called " Odds and Ends of an 
'Eventful Life," which will be printed at some future 
day. 

Some time in July of the above year, while prac- 
tising my profession in the Quaker City, to facilitate 
my business, I determined to get up a circular in the 
form of a miniature newspaper, and issue it monthly. 
When that project had got well fixed in mj mind, I 
sat down to write a prospectus for it. I had written 
only a few lines when L. Judd Pardee, a farmer and 
esteemed friend of mine, who had been in spirit-land 
then some five years, put in an appearance. I felt 
not a little pleased and gratified at the friendly call. 
I asked him what he thought of my paper, and 
whether it would subserve the purpose intended. 
Without answering that question directly, he took 
advantage of my willingness alwaj r s to allow him 
the use of my hand whenever he desired, and wrote 
these words : " Why not get up a paper that I can 
speak through to the hungry multitude ? " Upon 
reading his question, I jocosely said, " I will, if you'll 
edit it." After waiting a few minutes, he seemingly 
thinking the matter over, or talking with his friends 
about it, wrote, " I accept the offer, will do the 
best I can ; and with the aid of several spirits who 
when in the mundane condition occupied high posi- 



348 AUTOBIOGRxiPHY. 

tions in the moral and intellectual world [some of 
whom he named] I have no doubts of its ultimate 
success." After a pleasant chat of an hour or so, 
upon various other topics, he left, and I thought no 
more about the matter for the time being. I sup- 
posed it was merely a playful mood we both hap- 
pened to be in, that brought out what I should have 
considered very absurd if I thought he had intended 
in other than mere pleasantry. This was the prelim- 
inary step to an enterprise that culminated some five 
years subsequently in the publication of the Voice 
of Angels. 

For weeks subsequent to the above conference, the 
project would flash through my mind occasionally ; 
and, whenever an opportunity offered, Mr. Pardee 
would write something relating to our " novel enter- 
prise " as he used to characterize it. Whenever it 
was alluded to, I treated it with as little considera- 
tion as I would a thing that I considered of not the 
slightest practical importance. I thought that even 
talking about it with him was a waste of time. 
Whether it was the novelty of the scheme, that 
caused me to think about it, or whether I was being 
impressed by Mr. Pardee of its practical importance, 
I did not know ; but, the more I tried to keep it out 
of my mind, the more it would intrude itself, until 
at last I could think of nothing else. For weeks I 
kept it to myself; but eventually the thought oc- 
curred to me, that, if I ventilated the matter among 
my friends, may be I could get rid of it altogether. 
This ruse did not work as I hoped it would ; for, 
instead of getting rid of it, my mind became more 



PUBLISHING "VOICE OF ANGELS." 349 

absorbed in it than ever. What tended to bring about 
such result was, that every one to whom I mentioned 
the matter gave it unqualified approval, as a move 
that would culminate in success if once started. I 
could not see it in that light. At first, as before 
stated, I thought of it only as a pleasantry on the 
part of Mr. Pardee ; but, when I found that he was 
in solemn earnest, I expostulated with him, doubting 
its practicability ; telling him what he already knew 
of my total ignorance of journalism, and that I had 
never written an article for a paper in my life ; also, 
that I had no pecuniary means to start the enterprise, 
to say nothing of keeping it afloat long enough to 
insure its success, even with fair prospects for such 
a result at the beginning. 'But, in spite of all argu- 
ments to the contrary, its claims for a respectful 
consideration acquired a monopoly of my thoughts. 
Mr. Pardee and many other spirits claimed that they 
could write out their thoughts through my hand 
with almost the same ease and facility that they 
could with their own before leaving the material 
form ; but fearing this was a mistake, and the pres- 
sure upon me becoming great, I, to test the feasibility 
and possible success of the scheme, determined to 
write out a series of questions relating to the sub- 
ject, enclose them in a closely sealed envelope, and 
send them to Mr. J. V. Mansfield, to be answered 
through him ; and thus to learn what my business 
friends in spirit-life, in whose judgment I . had the 
most implicit confidence, had to say about it. Ac- 
cordingly I wrote the questions, enclosed them in an 
envelope so secured that it could not be tampered 

30 



850 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

with without instant detection, and sent it off. In 
less than a week I received a package containing not 
only the sealed letter intact, but an elaborate answer 
to each and every question asked, in regular order 
as propounded from first to last ; and without a sin- 
gle exception all replies were in favor of the enter- 
prise, cautioning me, however, about embarking in it 
without sufficient means to successfully float it until 
it could sustain itself; hinting that many projects 
of the kind had been started, and failed for want of 
sufficient funds ; remarking, " We are not bankers, 
but we can give matter that will elicit favorable 
criticism." 

Not having any personal acquaintance with Mr. 
Mansfield, I knew there was no common way by 
which he could have become possessed of even the 
drift of the questions : therefore the replies through 
him somewhat staggered my prior doubts as to its 
practicability, and I began to consider the project 
more favorably, although with not the vaguest 
thought that it would ever amount to a practical 
reality. To ascertain some of the details as to its 
get-up, if I ever should find myself in a condition 
to start it, I sent another letter under the same * test 
conditions as the first ; and to this also the answers 
came in the same regular order and preciseness as 
did the first. 

No way being open for carrying the project for- 
ward at that time, it gradually passed out of my 
mind, except that occasionally it would pay me a 
visit, seemingly to keep our acquaintance fresh and 
green. Time rolled on until October, 1875, when 



PUBLISHING "VOICE OF ANGELS." 351 

the subject came knocking at the door of thought 
again, asking admittance. The subject had lain so 
long in a dormant state, that I thought it was merely 
a passing impression, and would soon leave, as it had 
done hundreds of times since it was first projected. 
But this time, as it proved, I was not to be let off so 
easily. One evening, soon after this last draught 
upon my mind, Mr. Pardee put in an appearance. 
Ever ready and pleased to receive a friendly call 
from my dearly beloved spirit, friend, I hastily 
opened wide the door of my heart, and bid him enter. 
After the first friendly salutations were over, he at 
once renewed the subject of the long-ago-talked-of 
paper, arguing very earnestly the importance of at 
once starting it ; stating that the project had not 
been absent from his mind since he first "made the 
proposition, also that he had been unremitting in 
his endeavors to bring it into actuality, that he had 
ceased not day or night, from that time to this, in 
developing me for the work. 

Although in a pecuniary sense able to give it a 
fair trial, . if once started, I hesitated, as I was 
totally void of any practical knowledge in the busi- 
ness ; I was getting well up in years ; most of the 
matter must come through my hand ; and knowing 
that, once in, there was no retreat, I recoiled from the 
responsibility with feelings bordering on horror. 
Thus for weeks it went on ; and, as before, the more 
I tried to rid my mind of thinking about it, the more 
it troubled and perplexed me. Unable longer to 
keep it to myself, and with the faint hope, that by 
ventilating it among my friends as I did once before 



352 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

for the same purpose, in Philadelphia, I might be 
able to throw off the pressure that was bearing me 
down, and robbing me of necessary sleep and rest, I 
did so. Although my friends neither approved nor 
disapproved of the project, they seemed rather 
astonished at the announcement. I told them where 
and when it was first suggested, and the means I had 
used to ascertain its practicability ; and, unlike their 
course on the former occasion, with two exceptions 
all gave it unqualified disapproval ; arguing that the 
general stagnation of business all over the country, 
coupled with the great scarcity of money and a hard 
winter staring all in the face, said, that if it might 
be ever so feasible under more favorable circum- 
stances, it certainly could not at that time elicit the 
commendation of the most superficial business ob- 
server from a business standpoint. I fully coincided 
with that sensible mode of reasoning, yet I could not 
throw off the influence. Each succeeding day it 
gained a stronger hold upon my now anxious, 
troubled mind. Thus for weeks the conflict in 
my mind went on, slowly but steadily gaining in 
volume and intensity, with no sign of a diminution 
in its steadily increasing hold upon my rebellious 
spirit. 

In vain I reasoned with Mr. Pardee against its 
practicability under existing circumstances, even if I 
were an adept in the business, reiterating over and 
over again the reasons for my objections. But all 
to no purpose. He steadily persisted, that if once 
started it would culminate in success ; and he would 
not listen to any thing I advanced in opposition to 



PUBLISHING "VOICE OF ANGELS." 353 

the enterprise. Up to this time, that is, for three or 
four weeks, I had carried on all the correspondence 
pro and con, in relation to the enterprise with Mr. 
Pardee, through my own hand ; but, finding the sub- 
ject matter had assumed such dimensions that some- 
thing must be done one way or the other, I began to 
question rny own mediumship. Not that I doubted 
whether any volition on my part produced what my 
hand wrote (for that would be a preposterous idea, 
since every thought of my mind, as far as I knew, 
was diametrically opposed to the project); but to 
ascertain whether there might not be some imper- 
sonal, occult, psychological power at work which I 
did not understand, and which caused my hand to 
write what my judgment did not indorse, I deter- 
mined to have recourse again to my spirit-friends 
through Mr. Mansfield. 

Leaving out all details as to questions sent and 
answers returned, I will say that I received five let- 
ters from Mr. Pardee and other valued spirit-friends, 
in answer to as many from me. In every one of 
these, the practicability of the scheme had the un- 
qualified indorsement of most of my friends in spirit- 
life. Some, however, thought that, from the de- 
pressed condition of business affairs, it was not the 
best time to start it ; while equally many thought it 
was the right time. All agreed that it was a move 
in the right direction ; and those who favored its 
being started at that time said, that if once started 
it would go ahead ; it might be slowly at first, but 
eventually it would rest upon a solid basis. Finally, 
having exhausted all objections to the scheme that I 

30* 



351 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

could think of, and having become convinced beyond 
a peradventure, that its practicability under existing 
circumstances was perceived by practical business 
minds in spirit-life, whose pre-judgment of things 
future was not to be ignored with impunity, and that 
they would not encourage, much less advise, any one 
to engage in an enterprise of this or any other kind, 
involving great personal inconvenience, when the 
chances were not greatly in favor of the scheme, I 
reluctantly (I am ashamed to confess) consented 
to enter the lists, and do the best I could in a 
project gotten up and managed by this band of 
beneficent spirits, as I had every reason to believe 
they were. 

To put myself in the best possible condition to be 
used, I abandoned the use of tobacco, which had 
been a lifelong habit, also tea and coffee, and con- 
fined myself to simple nourishing diet, determined 
that, as far as I was concerned, there should be noth- 
ing wanting to insure its success. 

This being determined upon, I set myself to work 
getting up a prospectus; but could not perfect it 
until I had decided upon a name for the new paper. 
I have heard it said that of all things in this world 
to get at satisfactorily was the name for a new paper 
or book ; but had no conception of the difficulty, 
until I tried to get one for the novel paper I had 
determined to launch upon the boisterous ocean of 
newspaper criticism. Unlike any other paper in 
existence, this was to be edited and managed by 
denizens of another, and, to say the least, more ethe- 
real world. To get a name that would correspond to 



PUBLISHING "VOICE OF ANGELS." 355 

and embrace the design of the work, puzzled my 
brain for weeks. I asked Mr. Pardee to furnish it : 
he replied that he had rather I would select to suit 
myself. The nearest I could come to it was " Spirits' 
Tribune ; " but that didn't exactly suit. I had made 
a standing offer of ten dollars to any one who would 
furnish a name that would fit the design of the 
work, but failed in getting any thing better than the 
one that suggested itself to my own mind. I finally 
concluded to consult my spirit-friends through Mans- 
field, in relation to this also, before I fully decided. 
I did so. In response, Mr. Pardee said that what I 
had selected would do ; and so would " Voice of 
Angels," suggested, he said, by Theodore Parker. 
The moment I saw that name, I was satisfied, and 
determined at once to adopt it. 

The two most important things having been set- 
tled, — viz., to go ahead with the enterprise, and what 
name to designate the work by, — I commenced mak- 
ing preparations for the birth of the little stranger. 
Although the accouching process would be con- 
ducted by skilled pl^sicians, yet I feared at times, 
that, notwithstanding my confidence in those engi- 
neering the operation, it might be still-born, or not 
born at all. However, I got up a prospectus to suit 
me, after writing, cutting down, and doing the same 
numerous times. 

.Prior to this I had said nothing about my purpose 
to any outside of those intimate friends, who all 
tabooed it, with the exception of two. But, now that 
the thing would soon be known to the public, I first 
waited upon an old and esteemed friend who holds 



356 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

liigli position as a sensible man, and is one of our 
most practical, common-sense thinkers and writers 
upon Spiritualism, and see what he might say about 
my novel undertaking. After stating to him what I 
was about doing, showing him my correspondence 
with Mr. Pardee in relation to it, also telling him of 
my incompetency, &c, I asked him for his criticism. 
He heard me through, questioned me closely on 
various points, and then said, " If it is projected and 
shall be carried on strictly by the spirit world, I think 
it may be a success : otherwise it must end in total 
failure." 

Although I should have gone ahead with the pub- 
lication unaided, yet at my request this gentleman 
revised the copy, read the proofs, and whatever merit 
there may be in the general make-up of the early 
numbers (apart from the matter, none of which he 
furnishes) is due to his kindly aid. He told me at 
the outset, and continues to say, that on account of 
his other engagements he can make no promise of 
aid in the future. Unexpected help from such a 
source at the outset engendered confidence that at 
its first appearance the babe would not lack a respect- 
able dress to make his maiden bow in, whatever 
might be his ability to survive the harsh handlings 
of critics which I knew he would be forced to 
endure. 

To make widely known in advance the coming of 
this Voice, was no easy matter. True, the Spiritual- 
istic and other papers in Boston would insert its pro- 
spectus as an advertisement under their rules ; but 
either self-interest or distrust held them back from 



PUBLISHING " VOICE OF ANGELS." 357 

such editorial notices as were reasonably expected in 
some cases. Prophets usually get more honor and 
favor abroad than at home ; and in this case the far- 
off " Religio-Philosophical Journal " of Chicago made 
greater demonstration in welcoming a new member 
to the family of Spiritualistic teachers, than did all 
those combined who dwell near the new one's birth- 
place. And not only so, but the publisher of that 
Western paper loaned a list of his subscribers, which 
permitted the distribution of twenty thousand copies 
of our first sample number among the liberal-minded 
throughout North America. A favorable notice of 
our intended work having appeared in the " Religio- 
Philosophical Journal " weeks before our first issue, 
we had, in consequence of the generosity, more 
than two hundred subscribers when our first num- 
ber went to press, and have been obtaining others 
by hundreds weekly ever since. Our success is 
greater and our prospects are brighter than our most 
sanguine expectations embraced at a day so early 
as this. 

The final result of this strange work for one like 
me to be absorbed in is concealed in the wrapped-up 
scroll of the future, and cannot be read now. My 
previous trainings and discipline have no doubt been 
designed to fit me for my present work. One trained 
to literary pursuits, and to publishing business, would 
have become wedded to methods which would hold 
him back from such novel and free courses as the 
work imposed upon me requires. The old homely 
saying, that " It is hard to teach an old dog new 
tricks," expresses a truth which is applicable here. 



358 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

and in very many other eases, and perhaps indicates 
a reason why such an one as myself has been pressed 
into my present position. 

Success in my present field of labor may depend 
much upon myself, upon cheerful and persistent 
obedience to my employers, and upon my justice and 
charity towards all men -and all spirits. 

The special work to which the Voice now calls me 
differs from any that is generally known to be possi- 
ble. Spiritualism has been furnishing a commentary 
upon the statement that Jesus (1 Pet. iii. 19) "went 
and preached unto spirits in prison, which sometime 
were disobedient." We have been learning that 
there are myriads of such spirits dwelling in the 
abodes of unrest, darkness, and degradation ; and that 
the kindred and friends of such ones, dwelling in 
higher and brighter spheres, and seeking to enlighten 
and elevate these lower ones, by whom the brighter 
are invisible, find great help in their beneficent efforts 
when they can lure a wretched one into contact with 
an embodied medium, for in his auras the two classes 
of spirits, the darker and the brighter, can come into 
sensible contact, and thus the better can start the 
worse up the ladder of progression towards heavenly 
peace and joy. It is mainly as the instrument of 
spirits in such efforts that I am now employed ; and a 
main purpose of the Voice of Angels seems to be, 
to furnish our world with statements of their experi- 
ences and labors by spirits of all grades, and thus 
teach mortals both what lies before them in the next 
life, and how they can now help in the deliverance 
of " spirits in prison." 



PUBLISHING " VOICE OF ANGELS." 359 

Such is my solemn and philanthropic work. God 
and good spirits help me to perform it .faithfully and 
well, and aid me to become fit day by day for higher 
and more efficient service both in the earth-form and 
in the realm of spirit ! 



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